SailGP teams up with T-Mobile to boost fan experience

SailGP, the world’s most exciting racing on water, has teamed up with mobile operator T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) to bring an electrifying 5G experience to fans at the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix at Governors Island on June 22–23.

T-Mobile's 5G Advanced Network Solutions (ANS) will power the event, providing real-time data transmission, enhanced fan engagement and a whole new way of watching the high-speed sailing competition.

“T-Mobile is always up for a challenge, so when SailGP offered us a chance to bring America’s fastest 5G network to one of the world’s fastest growing global sports leagues – and to enable it to work over the New York Harbor, we were all in,” said Callie Field, President, T-Mobile Business Group. “Now, 5G-powered cameras will be capturing the action like never before – from under the boats moving at breakneck speeds – and transferring that footage to a live broadcast. This is just our latest step in setting a new standard for how data and 5G can improve fan experiences and live event operations.”

As SailGP’s exclusive U.S. 5G partner, T-Mobile is making this year’s race even more technologically advanced and spectator friendly. T-Mobile is deploying 5G ANS, including network slicing alongside 5G private and hybrid networks, creating a robust infrastructure to cover both land and water, helping to ensure mission-critical data is transmitted in real time.

This cutting-edge technology solution will minimize coverage gaps and boost reliability and data speeds so fans can get more dynamic views of the race from all over the course. T-Mobile and SailGP are also piloting network slicing to increase reliability bandwidth for the 5G cameras in the live broadcast and for the data from SailGP’s F50 catamarans to the coaches and athletes.

Race fans watching SailGP live from home will also be able to catch more action than ever before. Broadcasters have traditionally been limited by the number of wireless cameras they can use at a race due to traditional infrastructure. Now, powered by T-Mobile 5G ANS, broadcasters can deploy more wireless high-definition cameras through the 5G hybrid network, like the new Foil Cam, to show the speed of the adrenaline-packed race like never before.

SailGP is already an innovator and leader in sports broadcasting thanks to its remote-based TV production operation, which is done entirely in London, United Kingdom, and sees the global league broadcast its live events to 212 international territories. SailGP also uses its Emmy-award LiveLineFX technology to power the storytelling of SailGP and its racing by providing on-screen graphics to improve the experience for fans and TV viewers.

“The maritime environment presents some of the most demanding engineering challenges on the planet. Add to that the intricate network topology of New York City, and the complexity increases exponentially,” said Warren Jones, SailGP’s Chief Technology Officer. “With each race, T-Mobile helps us raise the level. Testing new ideas under such challenging conditions fuels our creativity to help us give our fans, athletes, coaches and operational teams the best possible experience in any condition.”

Fans and athletes on the shores of Governors Island, New York, and beyond will get:

More views of the action: In-person and at-home fans are set for an innovative visual experience. 5G-powered cameras will be installed underneath all 10 boats to show a new angle of the foils, illustrating the super-fast speeds. New HD wireless cameras connected by T-Mobile’s 5G hybrid network will provide more views of the race, while the existing live point-of-view broadcast cameras take fans aboard alongside the athletes.
Real-time audio: T-Mobile is powering a new project to stream live race audio for the first time. Through this premium experience, fans on chase boats following the F50s can hear athlete chatter during the race through 5G-powered headsets.
As the official 5G partner for SailGP events in the U.S., T-Mobile for Business will be prominently featured at the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco on July 13-14. T-Mobile for Business is also the official 5G partner of the U.S. SailGP Team.

“T-Mobile’s network is an incredible asset that furthers critical real-time data sharing and decision making between our Head Coach and Race Engineer on the pit wall and our athletes on the F50 while racing,” said Mike Buckley, U.S. SailGP Team athlete and Team CEO. “SailGP is unique in that the league has an open data policy – every team has access to every other team’s data, which is incredibly valuable intelligence that ensures we are all competing at the highest level.”

U.S.-based fans can watch the race in New York live on the SailGP YouTube channel and on CBS Sports Network at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For details on how to watch around the globe visit SailGP.com/Watch.