Latest news with #NewYorkGrandPrix
Calgary Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman buy Australian sailing team
Article content Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are now in the sailing game. Article content Founded in 2019 by American billionaire and Oracle founder Larry Ellison and world champion yachtsman New Zealander Russell Coutts, SailGP is an international sailing competition that sees 12 national teams competing in races around the world using technologically advanced catamarans. The team will compete at the New York Grand Prix this weekend. Article content Article content The announcement of Reynolds and Jackman coming aboard as co-owners coincides with Australian underwear brand Bonds signing on as a team sponsor, which of course was the source of a joke in a statement released by Reynolds and Jackman. Article content 'We're incredibly excited to set sail together in this new adventure,' Reynolds and Jackman said in a joint statement. 'Hugh brings a deep love for and pride in his home country as well as being an avid fan of sailing. He will also be bringing his overly clingy emotional support human along for the ride. Apologies in advance to Australia. No comment on whether we're writing this in our Bonds. No further questions.' Article content Article content Article content The investment in the sailing team is just another move into the sports franchise game by Reynolds. The Vancouver native's sports holdings include the Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC with his friend Rob McElhenney. Reynolds and McElhenney also invested in the Mexican soccer team Club Necaxa and Colombian club La Equidad, Article content Article content
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman Buy an Australian Sailing Team
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are buying a competitive sailing team. The Deadpool & Wolverine duo are now co-owners of the Bonds Flying Roos, the Australian team that competes in SailGP, the international sailing competition founded in 2019 by Oracle founder Larry Ellison and world champion yachtsman Russell Coutts. SailGP sees 12 national teams competing in races held around the world using technologically advanced catamarans. Advertisement More from The Hollywood Reporter The addition of Reynolds and Jackman as co-owners coincides with Bonds, an Australian underwear brand, coming aboard as sponsor of the team, which will compete at the New York Grand Prix this weekend. 'We're incredibly excited to set sail together in this new adventure,' Reynolds and Jackman said in a joint statement. 'Hugh brings a deep love for and pride in his home country as well as being an avid fan of sailing. He will also be bringing his overly clingy emotional support human along for the ride. Apologies in advance to Australia. No comment on whether we're writing this in our Bonds. No further questions.' 'This is an incredible milestone for us and for our sport, having global icons Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds come on board as co-owners of our team,' added Tom Slingsby, driver, CEO & co-owner of the Bonds Flying Roos. 'They bring unmatched star power, a love for storytelling, and a sharp sense of humour that fits perfectly with our team. With Bonds joining as our Title Partner and the launch of the Bonds Flying Roos, we're building something distinctly Australian; a team driven by spirit, resilience, and national pride.' Advertisement Reynolds has been active in the sports space, most recently acquiring the Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC with his friend Rob McElhenney. The team has seen great success since the acquisition, and its growth has been chronicled in the FX series Welcome to Wrexham. Reynolds and McElhenney also invested in the Alpine Formula 1 team, as well as the Mexican soccer team Club Necaxa. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
CNBC
02-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
SailGP launches sports betting with DraftKings and Bet365
Fans watching the New York races for international sailing league SailGP this weekend will have another reason to root for their favorite team. SailGP is working with gaming companies DraftKings in the United States and Bet365 internationally to let fans place bets on races, starting at the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix on June 7 and 8. "It's a sport that's naturally built for sports betting and gaming onsite in person at the events," said SailGP chief revenue officer Ben Johnson. "It's communal; it's high speed; there are lots of different winners, event-to-event." The move is part of a broader strategy to increase engagement and attract new fans to the sailing league, which was co-founded by tech billionaire Larry Ellison and champion yachtsman Russell Coutts in 2018. The league pits 12 co-ed international teams racing identical 50-foot Catamarans against each other, with boats traveling at speeds that can exceed 60 mph. The races take place alongside the shoreline, where there are pop-up stadiums so fans and cameras can get a close look at the action. The New York Grand Prix this weekend is nearly the halfway point for the fifth SailGP Championship season. The tight competition and novelty of the race outcomes positions the sport well for gaming, Johnson said. "It is really reflective of how good the teams are currently and how much competition there is on a race-to-race basis, which makes it really fun for fans from a betting and gaming perspective," he said. "You can have an odds favorite, but at the end of the day, it really depends which team is sailing most competitively that weekend in that venue." SailGP is already generating revenue through ticket sales, sponsorship and media rights. The 2025 ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in January drew a record 25,000 ticketed fans to the event, according to the league. In February, the 2025 KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix attracted SailGP's largest-ever dedicated global TV audience, reaching 21.1 million viewers, according to YouGov. In October 2023, 1.78 million U.S. viewers watched the Spain Sail Grand Prix on CBS, the largest linear TV audience in the U.S. for sailing race in 30 years, including the Olympics and the America's Cup, according to Nielsen. The event was slotted after a NFL game, and SailGP is poised to capitalize once again on those viewers this season, Johnson said. "Our two biggest broadcast windows are coming up in in the third quarter," said Johnson. "They'll be again after NFL games, which we think is the most fun opportunity to highlight SailGP to a national audience at scale and that's where we're seeing the records set." Across digital platforms, SailGP is drawing younger and more diverse fans than have been historically associated with yacht racing. Over the past year, it has notched up 1.4 billion video views across all social media channels and tripled its YouTube subscriber base, with nearly half of its subscribers (49%) between the ages of 18 to 34. By comparison, about a quarter of YouTube subscribers to the Americas Cup and the Ocean Race sailing league channels are in that cohort. With gaming, SailGP is betting it can convert casual viewers into invested spectators and amp up the excitement. During live races, the league says it captures 270,000 data points per second, which are processed, along with historical performance data, to supply real-time odds to bookmakers. This weekend, fans have the option to bet on the winner of each race, which teams will make it to the event finals, the winner of the event final and the overall season champion. A key aspect of the onsite activations will be teaching the racing rules of sailing, Johnson said. "The rules piece is a huge benefit for us because it gives people a really vested interest, not just who's in first and second, but why." said Johnson. With growing viewership, sponsorship dollars are flowing. In November, SailGP signed Rolex as its first title partner of the global sailing competition. Many of the individual teams have now attracted major sponsors including brands such as Red Bull, Emirates, Mubadala, Tommy Hilfiger, Rockwool and Deutsche Bank. The league is also selling off teams to investors at increasingly rich valuations. In November 2023, an investor group led by Marc Lasry's Avenue Sports Fund completed its acquisition of the U.S. team for $35 million, a significant jump from the previous $5 million to $10 million range for team acquisitions. And on Tuesday, SailGP announced that the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team had been acquired by a consortium of investors led by Muse Capital founding partner Assia Grazioli-Venier and luxury brand entrepreneur Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, with sailing legend Jimmy Spithill as CEO and co-owner. Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway also took a stake in the team. Teams are now being acquired for in excess of $50 million, the league told CNBC. With the Italy sale, 10 of 12 teams are now independently owned, and future teams will be independently owned and financed. "It's a really interesting consortium right now of private equity, family offices, athletes, actors, actresses, that we think really help with that strategic lens of how do we go and grow this sport and bring it to as many fans around the world in the largest way possible," Johnson said.
