After making a big splash at the Olympic Games – brand ambassador Léon Marchand won four gold medals in the swimming pool – Louis Vuitton is now tackling tougher waters by becoming title sponsor of sailing’s most prestigious race, the America’s Cup, which kicks off in Barcelona this week.

“Our proximity to sport is nothing new,” says Pietro Beccari, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, whose connection to the America’s Cup dates back to 1983. “But I think we are in a very strong position to strengthen that position.”

With young people competing for tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the euphoria that erupted across France during the event, which ended on August 11, Beccari said sport was “in the air” – and closer to fashion and luxury than ever before.

“I tell my salespeople in the stores that they’re not just selling products. They’re selling what we stand for – overcoming your limits, going above and beyond, and I think sport embodies that too,” said the manager, who once played football professionally. “We stand for optimism. We stand for winning. We stand for challenging yourself and constantly pushing your limits. That’s the spirit.”

All this bodes well for the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup, which begins on Thursday with the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin Championships and concludes in late October.

Professional sailor Grant Dalton, CEO of the America’s Cup event, told WWD that the qualifying races in Barcelona have already attracted 714 million views online, meaning the event is sure to surpass the 914 million views of the 2021 races in Auckland, New Zealand.

In an interview, he attributed the huge viewership to the America’s Cup’s free-to-air TV arrangement, a rarity for most sporting events, as broadcasting rights are one of the main sources of income. “TV costs us €20 million to build the sport,” Dalton said.

Beccari hinted that a documentary will be made about this edition of the America’s Cup, which could do for sailing what the Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” did for motor racing: increase its global popularity and attract younger generations and more women to the sport.

In another attempt to attract new fans, the organizers have developed an e-series that will be streamed live on Twitch. The first edition will offer six exceptional gamers the opportunity to come to Barcelona on September 28 and “race” in state-of-the-art simulators. “From gamers to sailors,” is how Dalton described the project, noting that youngsters from Venezuela, Hungary and New Zealand have already won the chance to make the leap from “bedroom to water.”

The Youth & Puig Women’s America’s Cup, which takes place at the same time, is also intended to increase the popularity of the sport.

Dalton, who is also CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand, the defending champions since 2017, caused controversy when he decided to hold the 2024 America’s Cup in Spain rather than in the home country of the 2021 Cup winners, New Zealand, as he considered the latter option financially unfeasible given the country’s economic challenges.

Plus, “we had to be in a time zone and a population base infinitely larger than New Zealand,” he said. “From a sponsorship perspective, we had to take it to a bigger market.”

The 2024 edition is already a major attraction in Barcelona. Anyone with a view of the water can watch the race, as it takes place close to the coast around Port Vell and along the beach to Port Olímpic.

Dalton, who has sailed around the world seven times, also boasted that the boats themselves were one of the main attractions, as they were “the most sophisticated, technologically advanced and certainly the fastest boats ever to compete in the America’s Cup.”

The fact that Vuitton is the title sponsor and organiser of the qualifying rounds is another plus point: “They bring prestige, a certain level of glamour, they have incredible marketing skills and they just bring momentum,” said Dalton. “It’s like mom and apple pie: the America’s Cup without Louis Vuitton is not the America’s Cup.”

Five challengers from the Louis Vuitton Cup regattas – Ineos Britannia, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, NYYC American Magic and Orient Express Racing – will take to the water to battle for the grand prize against Emirates Team New Zealand.

Dalton described sailing as a “technology sport”, comparable to Formula 1, since only a dozen members of each 150-strong team are sailors. “So if you can’t be a significant player in the technology race, you’re going to get beat,” he said.

In an interview, Beccari noted that the 37th edition also sees a quantum leap in the “technology for filming” the sleek sailing yachts, thanks to helicopters, drones and on-screen graphics, which should make it easier for newcomers to understand how the competing teams are performing and when mistakes are likely to be made.

Vuitton has played a role in America’s Cup races in the United States, Australia, Bermuda, Hong Kong, Dubai, France and Spain, contributing to the awareness and prestige of the regattas. Most recently, Vuitton was title sponsor of the America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017.

The brand has recently strengthened its ties to numerous sports, signing a number of high-profile ambassadors, including tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, basketball player Victor Wembanyama and rugby player Antoine Dupont, all of whom won medals at the Summer Olympics, where parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton was a premium partner.

Vuitton has also recently launched advertising campaigns with legendary duos such as football stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo or tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Asked what Vuitton might gain from being title sponsor of the America’s Cup, Beccari replied: “It’s very difficult to understand what a particular event brings you. I believe in a series of events, a series of things that make your brand desirable,” he said. “We firmly believe that the Olympic Games, the America’s Cup, what we achieved at the Grand Prix de Monaco, what we achieve in tennis, strengthen the desirability of our brand even among younger generations.”

Beccari agreed with Dalton that yacht sailing remains an “emerging” sport.

“But I think it’s very challenging, and when we talk about travel, I would say the sea is the way that people started to travel across continents,” he said. “So I think there’s some connection to the travel world of Louis Vuitton. … It seems very natural that we accompany the America’s Cup back to Europe.”

He also highlighted the “romantic” aspect of yacht sailing, as the winner decides the timing, rules, format and sponsors of the next America’s Cup, giving each edition a unique character.

Vuitton hosted a huge launch party at a mountaintop amusement park on Tuesday night, attracting Marchand and fellow Olympian Pau Echaniz, a Spanish slalom canoeist who took home a bronze medal.

Vuitton plans to welcome hundreds of VICs, as well as journalists and various local dignitaries, to Barcelona in the coming months.

The company also manufactured the Louis Vuitton Cup trophy and – in the historic Louis Vuitton Atelier in Asnières – two travel trunks for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup.

The Auld Mug is the silver trophy that has been awarded to the winner of the America’s Cup since 1851 and is considered the oldest international sports trophy in the world. The Louis Vuitton Cup has been awarded to the winner of the qualifying competition of the same name since 1983.

And fashion is in demand too. A nautical-themed capsule collection has been available online and in Vuitton boutiques since mid-July and is selling so well – especially windbreakers, tops, hats and other accessories – that Beccari says it will likely sell out long before the end of the Louis Vuitton Cup leg.

Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams, Vuitton’s artistic directors for women’s and men’s respectively, contributed to the line, which features a graphic “V” originally designed by Gaston-Louis Vuitton, the grandson of the company’s founder.

The capsule includes the LV Rush sneaker that Ghesquière unveiled as part of his Cruise 2024 collection for Vuitton and revisits a striped theme seen in Williams’ debut collection for Spring 2024.

Beccari said he hoped to persuade both men to spend a weekend in Barcelona and be seduced by the spectacle. “I love spending holidays on boats and at sea,” he said.