CBS re-ups with SailGP, signing two-year media rights extension

SailGP, the global sailboat racing circuit, has locked in another contract with CBS.

According to a report by Austin Karp in Sports Business Journal, SailGP has inked a new two-year media rights deal to keep its competitions televised on CBS Sports properties in the United States. The pact marks the first time that SailGP has secured a multiyear deal since launching in 2019. CBS has been the U.S. media rights partner for the circuit ever since its debut.

The new deal will see SailGP receive more than 50 hours of TV coverage each season, including nine CBS broadcast windows this season. Sunday will mark the first CBS broadcast window under the new deal as the network airs SailGP’s season opener from Perth, Australia. CBS will not have an NFL game on Sunday, with the network’s Divisional Round contest being scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

“CBS gives us both scale and credibility that we really need in the U.S. to drive a mainstream U.S. audience,” SailGP Chief Content Officer Melissa Lawton told SBJ. “The programming strategy is key for us, and having sort of been on those NFL weekends, it’s a testament to how well programmed we are with CBS. But it also gives us this sense of moving from the curious audience, or I would say even the casual audience. Now, it’s our role to find those or convert those into core audiences.”

CBS and SailGP have utilized NFL lead-ins well. In November, a SailGP telecast averaged 3.5 million viewers on CBS following an NFL singleheader window, marking the most-watched sailing broadcast in the U.S. since 1992. The circuit will air three such races following NFL games this year.

It should be noted, SailGP was co-founded by billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose son David Ellison now owns CBS parent company Paramount. Of course, the partnership between SailGP and Paramount well precedes Ellison’s ownership, but it surely didn’t hurt the circuit’s renewal prospects.