SailGP signs Rolex as title partner of world sailing competition

Self-styled Formula 1 sailing has signed Rolex as the first title partner of its elite sailboat racing competition.

The SailGP event series, which begins its 2025 season in Dubai on Saturday, will now be known as the “Rolex SailGP Championship”.

“As we approach our fifth season, SailGP is celebrating a period of remarkable growth,” said Russell Coutts, CEO of the league. “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 continue for the next decade, until 2034. Rolex will also remain the official watch of SailGP .

The SailGP World Championship brings together a dozen national teams from the United States, Italy, Germany and other countries to compete on identical, high-tech, high-speed foiling catamarans of 50 feet.

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

SailGP was created using a centralized business model with the aim of moving to a private ownership model within its first five years. In the upcoming season, 10 of the 12 teams will be private 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 the league’s co-founder and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and Avenue Capital Group Chairman Marc Lasry.

In 2023, a group of investors led by Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund acquired the American team for $35 million.

As interest grew, many teams also attracted major sponsors, including brands such as Red Bull, Emirates, Mubadala, Rockwool and Deutsche Bank.

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

Last season, SailGP attracted its largest U.S. television audience during the Spain Sail Grand Prix, with 1.78 million viewers on CBS.

Broadcasts reach 212 territories worldwide and viewership grew 48% year-over-year to approximately 200 million viewers on average over the 13 runs of its fourth season, the league reports.

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

“As a heritage sport in many markets, sailing’s demographics have historically been affluent participants and spectators,” Coutts said. “We are engaging a new generation of racing fans, which has already been demonstrated through our digital content and social engagement figures, in addition to our fan base in markets where we have new teams like Italy and Brazil.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correctly reflect the new name of the SailGP championship. A previous version misinterpreted the change.