Sailing-SailGP rides rising tide with celebrity owners, brands

NEW YORK :With new celebrity owners and a bevy of fresh sponsors, SailGP hopes to harness a wave of popularity and take the global sailing championship to the next level as it steers back to New York City to race for a third time this weekend.

SailGP announced actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds as new owners of Australia's three-time champion team on Thursday, just as the ink was drying on the team's first title sponsor deal with BONDS.

Reynolds led beleaguered soccer side Wrexham out of obscurity and into the English second-tier Championship with an injection of marketing wizardry, cash and a popular docu-series that quickly converted legions of American fans.

SailGP is hoping for their Wrexham moment, too.

"The fact that we can get that sort of involvement in one of the teams is amazing, and they'll have some fun with it too, which is what it's all about," Russell Coutts, the former Olympic champion who co-founded the league, told Reuters.

It was the kind of news to which fans have become accustomed, as the operation co-founded by billionaire Larry Ellison catches fire with A-listers and snares more big-name brands six years after its launch.

Oscar winner Anne Hathaway joined a female-led consortium that acquired the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team last week, while the competition itself named Rolex its title sponsor in November.

More than 200,000 ticketholders watched SailGP events last year, as the league reported strong growth in social media engagement, snaring younger fans.

The competition expanded to 12 teams for season five, with the addition of Brazil and Italy, and announced its new docuseries last month, part of a new content development push.

"We had so many sort of naysayers out there saying this is like another