SailGP signs Rolex as first title partner of global sailing competition

The self-described Formula 1 of sailing has signed Rolex as the first title partner of its elite sailboat racing competition.

SailGP, which kicks off the 2025 season in Dubai on Saturday, will now be known as the “Rolex SailGP Championship.”

“Leading into our fifth season, SailGP is celebrating a period of remarkable growth,” said league CEO Russell Coutts. “This will accelerate our next phase of growth and establish our position as the premier global championship in the sport of sailing.”

The Swiss luxury watchmaker first partnered with the sport during its inaugural championship in 2019. The title partnership will run for the next decade, through 2034. Rolex will also continue as the official timepiece of SailGP.

SailGP is a global championship featuring a dozen national teams from the U.S., Italy, Germany and others battling in identical high-tech, high-speed 50-foot foiling catamarans.

Boats race at speeds approaching 60 miles per hour and compete for a $7 million grand prize.

SailGP was established using a centrally owned business model with the goal of transitioning to a private ownership model within its first five years. In the upcoming season, 10 of 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 sport in the last year, including league co-founder and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and Avenue Capital Group Chairman Marc Lasry.

In 2023, an investor group led by Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund acquired the U.S. team for $35 million.

As interest has grown, many of the teams have attracted major sponsors, too, including brands such as Red Bull, Emirates, Mubadala, Rockwool and Deutsche Bank.

“What you’ve seen in the last three years is that sailing is dwarfing the other leagues,” Lasry told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in May.

Last season SailGP drew its largest American TV audience during the Spain Sail Grand Prix, at 1.78 million viewers on CBS.

Broadcasts reach 212 territories worldwide, and viewership increased 48% year over year to roughly 200 million viewers on average during its fourth season’s 13 race events, the league reports.

SailGP in its fifth season will have new broadcast agreements in Germany, Italy, Brazil and Spain to grow its linear audience.

“As a heritage sport in many markets, sailing’s demographic historically has been affluent participants and spectators,” said Coutts. “We’re engaging a new generation of racing fans that has already been demonstrated by our digital content and social engagement figures, in addition to our fanbase in markets where we have new teams such as Italy and Brazil.”