American Magic is expanding — a move city leaders see as another step toward remaking the waterfront into a hub for specialized maritime work rather than a traditional cargo port.
Doug DeVos, a co-founder of American Magic, the U.S. racing syndicate that has competed in the America’s Cup, has acquired the Danish ROCKWOOL Racing SailGP Team in what organizers described as a $60 million transaction.
SailGP is a global league that races identical 50-foot foiling catamarans — boats that rise above the water on hydrofoils and can top 60 mph. The circuit has been drawing new owners and investors as it expands.
In a press release announcing the acquisition, SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts said it marked “a significant moment for SailGP — and the start of a bold new era for ROCKWOOL Racing.”
The deal adds scale to an operation that is already anchored in Pensacola. American Magic operates a high-performance sailing center at the city-owned port, and SailGP has designated the team’s Performance and Innovation Center as a long-term training base. City officials say SailGP teams are expected to begin training in Pensacola in September 2026.
Local leaders have been clear about why they’re courting projects like this: The Port of Pensacola is small, sits next to downtown, and isn’t built to compete with major cargo ports. Instead, city officials have said the port’s future is in specialized maritime uses — including research and development, water transportation, and advanced manufacturing.
Mayor D.C. Reeves has framed that strategy as coexistence rather than a binary choice. “It’s not condos or cargo ships. We can have both,” Reeves said earlier this year.
Under the terms announced this week, DeVos’ group will own and operate the former Danish team while keeping its Denmark identity intact on the water.
“This is an exciting time for American Magic,” DeVos said in the release. “Partnering with SailGP and ROCKWOOL Racing brings together three organizations committed to high performance ... Together, we see a clear opportunity to build a winning team, deliver results on and off the water, advance elite talent, and inspire the next generation of sailors, designers, and boat builders.”
SailGP, launched by veterans of the America’s Cup world, has been moving toward a franchise-style model in which teams are owned by private investors rather than run centrally by the league. In the release, the league pointed to rising team valuations and described the deal as part of that broader trajectory. The ROCKWOOL team is also one of the circuit’s top performers, holding SailGP’s all-time speed record, according to the release.
The sailing investment is moving forward alongside a separate, industrial-scale proposal that city leaders say could reshape the port’s working waterfront.
Earlier this month, the Triumph Gulf Coast board voted to negotiate a proposed $76 million grant for a shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing project at the Port of Pensacola — a development city officials say could eventually employ about 2,000 people.
“This project will change the trajectory of our city for generations to come,” Reeves said at the time. “I promised careers for our hardworking taxpayers. Today shows that we are delivering on that promise.”
The proposal, known as Project Maeve, centers on Birdon America Inc. and would involve two large industrial buildings totaling roughly 400,000 square feet, built in phases. The Triumph vote authorized negotiations on a term sheet, a step short of final approval.
Taken together, the SailGP training base and the shipbuilding negotiations reflect the port strategy city leaders have been advancing: concentrate limited waterfront space on higher-value maritime uses that can generate jobs and investment, while still leaving room for other development pressure on a downtown-adjacent shoreline.
The American Magic acquisition does not change what will be built at the port or how quickly. But it does tighten Pensacola’s link to an international racing circuit and adds another signal that the port is becoming a year-round base for high-performance sailing.
