Budge takes different tack in new challenge
Karl Budge turned the ASB Classic into one of New Zealand’s most successful sporting events and now he’s looking to have that same Midas touch with SailGP and the Christchurch event.
Over Budge’s nine years at the Classic he transformed the two tournaments from quaint events that tennis diehards attended, to something that regularly attracted the best players in the world and brought in over $1 million a year to Tennis Auckland.
Never one to have a ‘it’ll do’ attitude, Budge always looked to improve the tournaments. That’s with the fan experience, the quality of players coming and the commercial revenue.
There had been rumours for a while that Budge, who is also on NZ Rugby’s commercial board, was looking for something new and after a meeting with Russell Coutts late last year, he realised he’d found a new challenge.
‘‘It’s been really cool getting into something new,’’ Budge said.
‘‘I really believe in this product, which is why I joined in the first place.
‘‘I had a coffee with Russell in November last year and once he articulated his vision and where he saw SailGP going, it became really easy.
‘‘It aligned with my approach in sport, of being truly fan-centric, which I think is an area a lot of sports can improve in. But SailGP makes decisions based on what’s best for our viewers and is really purpose driven.
‘‘Empowering your community and improving your community will hold a lot more value than if you won on a sports field or not.
‘‘For me, when you link those two together, it became an appealing property that I think has incredible legs.’’
SailGP is Coutts and Larry Ellison’s attempt to establish an international sailing series.
The first season took place in 2019, but last year it was abandoned after the round in Sydney due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2021-22 season begins in Bermuda next week, with New Zealand now entering a team, headed up by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, and the country hosting a round of the series in Christchurch on January 29-30, 2022.
Budge’s official title is New Zealand head of event and commercial director.
‘‘The role is in two parts,’’ he explained.
‘‘One is looking after the New Zealand operations for SailGP, so getting the event live in Christchurch in January and working on the commercial programme in this part of the world.
‘‘Then on the other side, it’s working with Peter [Burling] and Blair’s [Tuke] SailGP team, so setting up the New Zealand team and again leading the commercial operations for their new professional sports team.’’
For the average Kiwi – an instant expert on the America’s Cup when it comes around every few years – who then pays little interest in sailing in between, SailGP will be a different experience.
‘‘As a layman myself, I can say it’s incredibly different,’’ Budge said.
‘‘It’s like Formula One’s migration to street circuits and, to me, we’re the street circuit of sailing. Really up close and personal and they’re viewing experiences, as opposed to going out on the harbour.
‘‘It’s really close to land, all eight boats will be on the water at once, which will be something that’s pretty exciting and different to what we saw on the Hauraki for the past six months.
‘‘Where Russell’s real genius has come through in this is that these boats are high-tech performance machines, but they’re 100 per cent equal, so it will come down to how the sailors sail them on the day.’’
Sir Ben Ainslie, Nathan Outterridge and Jimmy Spithill are the other big names involved in SailGP, so it has the stars, and Budge said the Lyttelton course would be great for spectators.
‘‘We’re designing it at the moment and I see it now as though there won’t be a bad seat,’’ Budge said.
‘‘Wherever you are, you’re going to be 10-15 metres from the edge of the racecourse, sitting on land. So there’s no need to get out on a boat.
‘‘We’ll have a big spectator programme there. Both corporate and public and with the set-up of Lyttelton it creates an unbelievable amphitheatre to watch the racing from.’’
The ASB Classic won the WTA award for the best event of its tier four times between 2014 and 2019.
They became events that offered spectators more than just tennis to watch.
So what is Budge looking to bring to SailGP from the Classic?
‘‘My key driver at the ASB Classic was about creating an experience,’’ he said.
‘‘It might have been accelerated via a tennis property, but really it was a day out, an occasion that you were coming to and that’s what we want to create here as well.
‘‘It will be a different experience to what you would have seen at the tennis. There are other pillars of SailGP that we’ll dial up more than we did at the tennis.
‘‘As an example, our renewable energy drive, where we’ve got a really big purpose behind us, where we want to see the adoption of clean, renewable energies, a world powered by the wind, sun and tide.
‘‘So we’ll have a big focus around that and also Pete and Blair with their Live Ocean Foundation, it’s such a genuine passion for those two and I think you’ll see a big piece around ocean conservation, which I think is exciting.’’