Three-year £300k ground-breaking sponsorship deal announced for Formula Foil Ocean Racing Championships

FFORC has to today announced an unprecedented and unique sponsorship opportunity for the naming and sponsorship rights to the FFORC championships.

In a unique financial package, the three-year deal, will provide the sponsor with international coverage of the event via a host of new digital media opportunities including broadcast TV and real time offshore video racing feeds and live tracking from the yachts and chase boats. The sponsorship deal, which involves the fleet racing almost continuously for 10 months of each year, will provide a superb platform for a business wanting to be associated with youth, extreme sport, technology and leading-edge communications.

What is unique and exciting about this opportunity is the sponsor will become an equal partner in the FFORC business ensuring that after the 3-year sponsorship has ended there will be a residual value returned to the sponsor equal to their share of the resale value of the yachts.

How does it work?

Stuart Greenfield explains; “Yacht racing sponsorship has always been very tough and because of this many commercial yacht racing formats have been difficult to sustain. As a lifelong ocean racer and member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club since 1984 my primary motivation is to reignite the excitement of ocean racing and make it an affordable, exciting and adventurous sport for a new younger audience who want thrills, spills and high-tech fun in the most leading-edge yachts. As an ‘ancient’ entrepreneur I know funding is a ‘chicken and egg’ moment with cash flow being the most crucial element so a new financial idea was crucial to make FFORC happen. Foiling and Bénéteau have created the perfect storm to float FFORC and create something pretty exciting for the UK ocean racing scene. (no pun intended!)

He continues; “The undisputed manufacturing pedigree of Benéteau ensures that the Figaro 3 yachts will have a high residual value on the open market at the end of the three-year cycle, and we have used this fact to change the rules of yachting sponsorship completely.

“A percentage of the resale value of the first 10 yachts used in the championships will be returned to the headline sponsor at the end of the three-year cycle. In fact, the sponsors will be creating the wherewithall to enable FFORC to cash flow the event for teams entered. From this our financial advisers suggest that the naming sponsor will receive a significant ROI (return on investment). This ROI is based on the value of coverage and brand awareness created from the Championships exposure plus the final cash return, which could be as much as £1m. This approach reflects the risk involved in working with a new format and the result is a win-win for everyone as the entry price point for teams is achievable and we have a happy sponsor who will receive incredible marketing and brand enhancement at a fraction of the usual costs.”

Full financial details of the deal available on request.

Comments are closed.