Here's what the American Magic and SailGP partnership means for Pensacola

Doug DeVos, co-founder of American Magic, speaks during the American Magic High Performance Facility grand opening ceremony at the Port of Pensacola on Jan. 7, 2026.

With the official opening of the American Magic High Performance Center at the Port of Pensacola, the team announced that the city would also be the official North American training base for SailGP.

The new 56,000-square-foot facility cost $20.8 million to build and will employ 170 full-time workers supporting American Magic and its operations there.

Here’s everything to know about the new port operation:

What is American Magic?

American Magic was formed in 2017 by U.S. businessmen Doug DeVos, Hap Fauth and Roger Penske to compete for the 2021 America's Cup with the New York Yacht Club and bring the prestigious sailing trophy back to the U.S.

Over the last few years, the team has shifted its central effort to developing high-performance sailing in the United States.

The American Magic High Performance Center will be the central hub of that effort as the team announced a partnership with SailGP. The center will also be the central location for its partnership with America One Racing, which is the training pipeline for U.S. Olympic sailing.

“American Magic High Performance exists to develop sailors, athletes, teams, engineers, designers, boat builders at the highest level,” Terry Hutchinson, president of sailing operations, said at the Jan. 7 opening of the High Performance Center. ”Through partnerships with America One Racing, developing the foiling pipeline and Project Podium, developing platforms for the evolution of women and youth racing, clear progression from youth sailing to college sailing to Olympic classes to elite foiling, supporting U.S. Sailing and our Olympians as they prepare for the 2028 games and beyond, and to continue invest in our youth and the racing as part of that pathway is all critical to high performance.”

The team has also launched a commercial business side called American Magic Services, which is working in the marine and aerospace industries.

Why is American Magic in Pensacola?

Hutchison said that training and developing foiling are now central skills to high-performance sailing, and Pensacola Bay remains the best location for it.

“Pensacola provides the conditions, the space, and the consistency needed to train at this level,” Hutchinson said.

In 2018, the team began practicing in Pensacola Bay as a result of a fortuitous call by Dr. Jim Andrews, founder of the Andrews Institute, to DeVos.

“I've known Jim for years and years, and he says, 'Come to Pensacola.'” DeVos told the News Journal. “So if you've got a friend like Jim Andrews, well, let's go, let's check it out. So the team came down, and they said, 'This could be a perfect spot for us for our training.'”

The America’s Cup, which has been a sail competition running since 1851, has pushed sailing to its limit with foiling sailboat designs that require millions of dollars to develop and high-tech composite manufacturing capabilities to build.

The team came up short in the 2021 America’s Cup but committed to racing in the 2024 America’s Cup.

After continuing to train in Pensacola each winter, in 2022, the team and local officials began publicly discussing long-term plans about establishing a permanent base.

The Escambia County Tourist Development Council and County Commission paid for a sponsorship to feature the Pensacola logo on a prominent part of the team’s sail with tourism tax funds.

Former Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson had the city include the proposal in a broad $55 million grant request from Triumph Gulf Coast that included other upgrades to the port’s infrastructure.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves took up the idea when he took office, and in 2023, he took up the push to find funding to build the team a permanent headquarters, narrowing the city’s grant request to Triumph to $8.5 million for just the headquarters and winning Gov. Ron DeSantis’ support for the project, who also awarded funding to the project.

Ultimately, the $20.8 million project was funded by three state grants and lease payments from American Magic and the University of West Florida, which will also lease space at the port for its Center for Watercraft and Vessel Engineering (WAVE).

Why did American Magic leave the America’s Cup?

American Magic came up short again in the 2024 America’s Cup, and it became an open question whether the team would commit again to the 2027 America’s Cup.

Under the rules of the America's Cup, the terms of the next race are set by an agreement between the defender and the official challenger of record, and its history is full of disputes between team owners over the rules of the competition.

The competition has largely operated under a "winner-take-all" model, leaving the losing teams out millions of dollars. However, as the cost to compete in the race is rising, the teams that compete in the event have been pushing to create more opportunities for revenue sharing.

Team New Zealand, which has held the cup since it defeated the previous American team Oracle Team USA in 2017, drew controversy in the sailing world and criticism from American Magic with the choice of Naples, Italy, for the 2027 America’s Cup before they had been officially challenged.

In May, American Magic threatened to withdraw from the competition over concerns as negotiations intensified. In October, the team announced that it would officially not compete in the 2027 America’s Cup.

American Magic isn’t the first team to walk away from the competition. After Oracle Team USA lost the cup in 2017, its team principal, Larry Ellison, and team CEO Russell Coutts partnered to found SailGP.

What is SailGP?

SailGP is a professional sailing league using high-speed foiling catamaran sailboats that began racing in 2019. The league was founded to be a commercially viable sail racing league on the same level as the America's Cup. Many SailGP athletes and sailors are also on America’s Cup teams.

Unlike the America’s Cup, it happens every year, and all of the teams use the same boat design, cutting down on development and maintenance costs.

The league has seen strong growth since its first race, growing from six teams to 12. Coutts, who is now CEO of SailGP, told Yahoo Finance last week the league is looking to grow to 20 teams, and each team has a value of about $70 million, with the league bringing in $200 million in revenue for the 2025 season.

Andrew Thompson, managing director of SailGP, said in Pensacola on Jan. 7 that the league is now at 13 teams.

The league has attracted high-profile investors like actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, who announced last year that they had purchased the Australian SailGP team.

What will SailGP bring to Pensacola?

SailGP and American Magic announced a five-year agreement to bring the entire SailGP fleet to Pensacola every off-season, which currently runs through the late fall and early winter, to train.

The agreement means athletes, sailors and support crew will be staying and living in Pensacola for several weeks at a time. And 50-foot foiling sail catamarans will become a common sight on the water of Pensacola Bay.

Tyson Lamond, chief operating officer of American Magic, told the News Journal he believes the SailGP agreement does exactly what the team said it would do when the idea of a permanent headquarters was pitched in 2023: bring international sailing and sailors to Pensacola.

Lamond said the top international sailors and support crews will be coming to stay for long periods of time in Pensacola, eating at local restaurants and staying at local hotels, and it will also spread the word in the sailing world about the great location of Pensacola Bay.

"When I look at this for Pensacola as a region, I think it's amazing," Lamond said. "I genuinely think the foot traffic that we're going to bring here to the community and the eyes that are going to open up to Pensacola is going to be great."

Thompson said Pensacola will be the training home for some of the best sailing athletes in the world.

“They're really excited to come out here, and we expect significant visitation to the community here from around the world as a result of that,” Thompson said. "Frankly, we want to put a great show here on the waterfront for everybody in Pensacola, Florida. And no doubt, we just want to provide a sense of excitement and buzz across the whole of the community here.”