Women’s Sports Group (WSG) has been hired by SailGP to provide advisory services on commercial deals for the sailing league as it looks to develop its ‘Women’s Pathway’ project.
Announcing the agreement today (Tuesday), the two parties said that they aim to capitalise on the recent surge in engagement with women’s sport and increased financial backing to support the ambition of creating a gender equitable sailing league.
WSG co-founder Dame Heather Rabbatts said: “We are delighted to be working with SailGP to secure authentic partnerships that not only increase investment in the sport but also amplify the work SailGP and its teams have done to drive equity and inclusion.”
Fiona Morgan, SailGP’s chief purpose officer, added: “Sports fans around the world have been captivated by this summer’s women’s football World Cup, Wimbledon and the Women’s Ashes and it’s been fantastic to see more commercial investment propelling these sports to new heights and reaching new audiences.
“Through the Women’s Pathway, SailGP has one of the best opportunities in sport to break existing boundaries, change culture and have a gender equitable league which I’m incredibly excited about. It’s great to be working with WSG, who share our vision of creating a sustainable, inclusive competition, and together, we will secure further commercial partners to drive this vision forward.”
WSG was launched in October 2019 by Rabbatts, then chair of the now closed strategic communications agency Vero Communications, and media rights consultant David Kogan with the aim of creating opportunities to promote, enhance and empower women’s sport.
SailGP launched the Women’s Pathway programme in 2021. In the same year, the series’ nine national teams competed with a female athlete onboard during racing. A total of 29 female athletes have now raced onboard the F50 catamarans. SailGP’s goal is to have a female driver win an event by its sixth season and for half of the F50s having at least two females on board during racing.
SailGP already works with IMG on its commercial rights sales. The Endeavor-owned company this year agreed a “multi-year” renewal as the league’s global agency of record. IMG focuses on expanding global media rights distribution – working alongside SailGP’s in-house team – and developing new sponsorships for the series, its participating teams and events, as well as providing support to SailGP’s commercial team.
A three-year SailGP sponsorship with global financial services provider Apex Group announced in June has a particular stress on gender equality. The deal in the third ‘Official Partner’ tier sees the firm support SailGP in its attempts to empower female employees, athletes and women in the wider sailing industry by applying a tailored version of its Women’s Accelerator programme to the event.