Chanel dips its oar into sports sponsorship with Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race

Chanel is having a first punt at sports sponsorship as it becomes the official partner of the historic Oxford-Cambridge boat race.

The French luxury fashion house will make waves at the 2025 inter-university event as it is rebranded as ‘The Chanel J12 Boat Race’.

The J12 is one of Chanel’s line of watches, retailing between €5,800 and €27,500.

Chanel has signed a contract to be the official name sponsor of the race until at least 2029. It takes over from Gemini, the American cryptocurrency company founded by the Winklevoss brothers that filed for bankruptcy this year.

“The long-term partnership is an expression of a shared philosophy, one of an uncompromising pursuit of excellence which relies on collective effort to succeed,” Chanel and the Boat Race announced.

It’s the first time Chanel has tied its luxury brand name to a sports event. Chanel has taken its time to enter the sporting world compared to its peers. Watch brands especially have long tied their precision timekeepers to competitive timed events, Omega with the Olympics, Rolex with Wimbledon and Formula One, and Hublot for the most recent Fifa World Cup.

In terms of other French fashion houses, Louis Vuitton and parent company LVMH sponsored the Paris Olympics and have recently announced a 10-year $1 billion (€924 million) partnership with Formula One, replacing Rolex.

The race, which takes place in the Spring across the River Thames is an annual tradition that dates back to 1829. Around 250,000 spectators attend the four-mile race course.

No details on the sponsorship’s value have been revealed, but according to Companies House, the Boat Race limited company paid the two universities’ boat clubs a combined total of £500,000 (€600,000).

A further £97,407 (€116,825) was handed out to the Oxford and Cambridge Rowing Foundation charity.

This year’s race was the source of controversy when the organisers issued safety guidance, warning rowers against entering the water and to cover open wounds. The guidance followed high levels of the E Coli bacteria being found in the part of the River Thames that the race was to take place on.

The news came as the UK’s privatised water companies were flooded with complaints for their lacking infrastructure and for dumping large amounts of sewage in the country’s rivers and sea.

What is the Boat Race?

The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the boat clubs of the country’s two oldest universities, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford.

Due to Britain’s obsession with these two universities – historically attended by only the wealthiest, most privileged youth – what is essentially a student sports team rivalry has been elevated to be considered part of the nation’s sports calendar.

In part, the Boat Race is notable for its sheer duration as a tradition. The first men’s race was held in 1829 when two Harrow boarding school alumni called Charles challenged each other’s respective universities. Oxford won the first ever race.

It wasn’t until 1836 that another boat race took place. It became an annual tradition after 1856 with each year’s loser challenging the winner to a rematch.

Since 1856, the race has only not been held during the war years 1915-1919 and 1940-1945 and in 2020 due to Covid-19.

In 1927, the first women’s boat event was held. Until 1935, the event was not just a race but a competition over speed, steadiness, and style with the two boats in the river at separate times. After 1935, it became an annual tradition with a similar setup as the men’s. The women’s race continued during the war years.

The women’s race officially joined with the men’s race in 2015 when, for the 70th edition, it took place on the same course. Since then, the two races have been rebranded as just “The Boat Races”.