SAIL GP has signed Rolex as the first title partner of the global sailing competition.
Courtesy: Cell GP
Sailing’s self-proclaimed Formula 1 has signed Rolex as the first title partner of its elite sailboat racing competition.
SailGP, which opens the 2025 season in Dubai on Saturday, will now be known as the “Rolex SailGP Championship”.
“Moving into our fifth season, SailGP is celebrating a period of remarkable growth,” said Russell Coutts, league CEO. “This will accelerate the next phase of our growth and establish our position as the premier world championship in the sport of sailing.”
The Swiss luxury watchmaker first partnered with the sport in 2019 during its inaugural championship. The title partnership will last for the next decade, until 2034. The Rolex Cell will also continue as the official timepiece of the GP.
The Sail GP is a world championship in which dozens of national teams from the United States, Italy, Germany and others compete in identical high-tech, high-speed 50-foot sailing catamarans.
Boats race at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and compete for a $7 million grand prize.
SAIL GP has signed Rolex as the first title partner of the global sailing competition.
Courtesy: Cell GP
CellGP was established using a centralized ownership business model with the aim of transitioning to a privately owned model within its first five years. Next season, 10 of the 12 teams will be privately owned, and future teams will be independently owned and financed, the league told CNBC.
Some Wall Street titans have backed the game in the past year, including league co-founders and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and Chairman Mark Lasry of Avenue Capital Group.
In 2023, an investment group led by Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund acquired the US team for $35 million.
As interest has grown, many teams have also attracted major sponsors, including brands such as Red Bull, Emirates, Mubadala, Rockwall and Deutsche Bank.
“What you’ve seen over the last three years is that shipping is undercutting the other leagues,” Lasry told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in May.
Last season SailGP drew its largest US TV audience during the Spain Sail Grand Prix, 1.78 million viewers on CBS.
Broadcasts reach 212 territories worldwide, and viewership grew 48 percent year-over-year to nearly 200 million viewers during its fourth season of 13 race events.
The Cel GP in its fifth season will have new broadcast deals to expand its regional audience in Germany, Italy, Brazil and Spain.
“As a legacy sport in many markets, sailing has historically had demographically affluent participants and spectators,” Coutts said. “We are engaging a new generation of racing fans that is already evident through our digital content and social engagement data, in addition to our fan base in the markets where our new teams are located. Like Italy and Brazil.”
