Paris — Louis Vuitton, long the commercial partner and namesake of the America’s Cup challenger series, has signed an agreement to expand its role in the next Cup in Bermuda in 2017.
The move, a surprise in some sailing circles, is a significant boost for the venerable event, which has lost commercial and sporting momentum in recent months because of challenger withdrawals and hotly disputed rule and design changes.
“There is some negativity in some quarters, but a lot of that negativity said we’d never sign Louis Vuitton again,” said Russell Coutts, the New Zealander and former star America’s Cup helmsman who is head of the America’s Cup Event Authority.