Emirates signs 3-year deal to sponsor British team in SailGP

SYDNEY: Emirates is expanding its sponsorship in sailing with a three-year deal to become the title partner of Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team in the SailGP global league.

The squad will be known as Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team starting with this weekend’s regatta in Sydney. The team showed off the new red and white color scheme and the Emirates logo on the wingsail and hulls as it sailed its foiling 50-foot catamaran past the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge on Thursday.

It’s a breakthrough team title sponsorship in SailGP, which was co-founded by tech tycoon Larry Ellison and five-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts and has three regattas left in its third season, which will culminate in a $1 million, winner-take-all championship race at the end of the San Francisco regatta in early May.

The announcement of the Emirates deal in Sydney came a day after SailGP announced that Rolex has signed a 10-season partnership as the global presenting partner as well as the title sponsor of the opening regatta of Season 4, the Rolex United States Sail Grand Prix in Chicago on June 16-17.

“I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Emirates is one of a handful, if not the biggest and most prestigious brands in sports sponsorship,” Ainslie said in an interview with The Associated Press. “So, for our team to be associated with that is a massive statement. We’re incredibly proud to now be partnered with Emirates. We’ve talked a lot about the collaboration that we’re looking to set up with our team with like-minded partners that really want to come together and share a lot of these challenges around sustainability.”

Emirates has sponsored Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup since 2004. The Kiwis are the