“SailGP is the fastest-growing emerging sport in history,” Assia Grazioli Venier, cofounder of The Muse Sport consortium that acquired the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team last May, told WWD’s Apparel and Retail CEO Summit last month.
“This has been one of the most extraordinary things in my career that I’ve seen in terms of operational excellence, from content to digital to what happens at these events,” she said. “Also, because it is fueled by the wind as opposed to gas guzzling, it represents a lot of the values that we know are important to today’s consumer.”
Grazioli Venier was joined by Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, also a cofounder of the Muse consortium and president of the Italian team, in a panel discussion on this technology-led, mixed-gender and climate-positive championship.
“We launched a team in April, and now we are looking for brands to come in alongside Red Bull,” Passi de Preposulo told moderator Luisa Zargani, WWD’s Milan bureau chief. “They need to be international brands to make sense, because the race is held in 13 different countries and attracts a very diverse audience.”
According to him, “these boats are basically moving billboards that are on camera for the entire duration of the race. Also, the size of the branding in Formula 1 is only a few centimeters in scale. Here, it’s from 50 centimeters to meters, and it’s one of the reasons why one of the most important luxury brands in the world, Rolex, decided to move its budget, after 12 years of sponsoring Formula 1, to SailGP for the next 10 years.…We’re a very young league, only five years old, but we see a very bright future.”
He noted that fans can watch the race from the shore — in grandstands or private lounges — or on the water since some brands charter yachts as a unique experience for their top clients.
A SailGP Championship.
Courtesy Image
The final race of the 2025 season is scheduled for Nov. 29 and 30 in Abu Dhabi, having already touched down in spectacular coastal locations near Geneva, Saint-Tropez, Portsmouth, England, San Francisco and New York.
“Stay tuned for an Italian announcement,” Grazioli Venier teased.
SailGP was founded seven years ago by Larry Ellison, cofounder of Oracle Corp. and twice winner of the America’s Cup, and Russell Coutts, Olympic gold medalist who skippered three America’s Cup victories.
The SailGP Championship sees national teams racing in identical high-tech, high-speed 50-foot foiling catamarans around the world at speeds approaching 60 miles an hour in a quest for a total prize money of $12.8 million. The Italian team was formed in November last year.
Asked to account for the magnetic pull between fashion and sports today, Passi de Preposulo noted that Ellison tuned into the heritage and nostalgia trends, while also spying a huge gap in the market since sailing’s biggest event, the America’s Cup, happens only once every four years.
What’s more, “the sport of sailing in the last 10 years has completely changed” thanks to foiling technology that allows catamarans to go four or five times the speed of classic sailing boats.”
“It’s a very smart format. It’s only 15 minutes for each race back-to-back so that means that the attention span of the audience is secure,” he said.
In addition, there is only one team per nation, “so that created a scarcity effect to secure a very large audience for each country.”
Asked if a fashion line could be launched in association with SailGP, Passi de Preposulo replied, “Definitely.”
According to him, sports are a “catalyst for conversation” across “many different verticals…from finance to hospitality, from fashion to entertainment.”
That the consortium boasts investors from Hollywood and fashion, which include actresses Anne Hathaway, her husband actor and producer Adam Shulman, Miriam Leone and Evan Yurman, president of jeweler David Yurman, helps widen the sport’s profile.
“SailGP is a very digital platform as well, and it is one of the strengths. It’s on multiple broadcast platforms around the world,” Grazioli Venier said. “You can watch most of the races on YouTube Live. It has a very longstanding content platform across all the social media. So there are ways of really engaging with the sport — wherever, whenever.
“What I love the most about this is that we grew up sailing, and so it’s personal,” she continued. “But actually, you don’t have to love sailing or know anything about it to love SailGP. It is high drama and gorgeous. There’s beauty all around you, including the guests that are in the lounge, but also these beautiful boats.”
Off the water, the athletes — there are seven men and women per boat — are seen engaging with their tech teams, fans and investors, creating multiple opportunities for fashion statements, akin to the tunnel walks that have become high-stakes moments in basketball.
“We joke that we have a duty as the Italian team to always be as chic as possible,” Grazioli Venier said.
