By Alexander Smith
LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - SailGP will launch its fifth season in Dubai this weekend with Rolex as its title partner, reinforcing a relationship with the Swiss luxury watchmaker since the birth of the league in 2019.
Rolex, which has been involved in the sport of sailing for nearly 70 years, will also become title partner for the Los Angeles grand prix in mid-March next year and will continue as the official timepiece for SailGP under the 10-year deal.
"What they really like about SailGP is it's modern, it's attracting a larger and a younger audience and the fact that this is an annual championship," said SailGP CEO Russell Coutts, adding Rolex had become "inextricably linked with the league".
Coutts told Reuters that with SailGP into a fifth season it was able to provide the certainty to sponsors, venues and team owners that had been lacking from sailing events in the past.
SailGP, in which teams race state-of-the-art, one-design 50-foot foiling catamarans at high-profile venues around the world, was founded and backed by Oracle's Larry Ellison, who was earlier involved in successful U.S. America's Cup campaigns.
Coutts said there were still other areas where SailGP was in talks to sign up partners, highlighting energy and financial services as possible areas of interest.
"We think we've got a really unique property in some regards," Coutts said, pointing to the on-site fan experience and hospitality which form part of the SailGP events.
"The sport hasn't had a platform like this where they could activate and plan ... a 10-year arrangement, it just hasn't existed before now, not an entity that's professionally televised and marketed in a consistent way," he added.
With Brazil and Italy joining the league for season five, there will be a total of 12 teams competing from early 2025, with SailGP offering bonus prize money of $7 million.
Alterations to the foils which lift the catamarans out of the water mean that the F50s are expected to "fly" even faster this season than last, with Coutts predicting speeds of 110 kilometres per hour in the right wind conditions.
'MORE VISIBLE'
Joël Aeschlimann, International Sponsorship Manager for Rolex, told Reuters that the brand will be "much more visible in and around SailGP in the coming years". Its distinctive logo is prominently on show on the jib sails of the catamarans.
"We were really happy to be one of the founding partners and had a strong belief that the vision that Russell and Larry had would work," Aeschlimann said of SailGP.
Aeschlimann said this faith had paid off and the package that SailGP has assembled allows for enjoyment whether watched from the shore, on screen or from the water, encompassing all the ingredients that a modern sports event needs.
A combination of the best sailors, technological innovation and the mix of human emotions and achievements were among the elements that made SailGP appealing to Rolex, he added.
Rolex is title sponsor of 15 major international sailing events, including the Sydney-Hobart and Fastnet races, and partners institutions including the New York Yacht Club and Britain's Royal Yacht Squadron.
It also has ties with individuals involved in SailGP such as Ben Ainslie, who owns and runs the British team, Tom Slingsby, who skippers Australia's F50, and double Olympic gold medallist Hannah Mills, who is Britain's team strategist.
Rolex had been partner to Formula 1 since 2013 but was replaced this year by French luxury giant LVMH , which agreed to a 10-year sponsorship deal.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Additional reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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