The SailGP sailing series has teamed up with cyber protection firm Acronis to launch a new technology solution to enhance the broadcast experience for viewers.
The innovative voice recognition project will allow fans to hear every conversation on board the teams’ catamarans. Conversations will be tracked, transcribed and translated in real time and distributed to international broadcasters in various languages, including French, Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin.
The three-year deal names Acronis as the official cyber protection supplier of SailGP. The company will also become the cyber protection partner of the France SailGP team and will benefit from branding on its F50 catamaran.
The initiative is designed to provide fans with a greater insight into the series and will also be used by team data analysts as they look to gain a competitive edge.
Russell Coutts, chief executive of SailGP, said: “Technical innovation plays an integral role in everything we do at SailGP, and we are continually looking at ways to entertain with our unique sports property and excite our fans.
“Being able to listen to all of the onboard communications in the different team languages will truly bring another dimension to our broadcast offer and we are really excited to work with Acronis to add this to our award-winning broadcast platform when the league restarts in San Francisco in April 2021.”
Earlier this week, the Sportfive agency was appointed to manage and deliver the international sports sponsorship portfolio of Acronis, which has signed deals with football clubs Arsenal, AS Roma, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Manchester City, plus Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, Formula 1’s Williams Racing and Racing Point, plus Formula E’s Nio 333 Racing.
SailGP announced back in May that it had postponed its second season until 2021 due to Covid-19, voiding the one event that had been held up to that point.