Cara Bostock
Tom Brady, Didier Drogba, Rafael Nadal, Virat Kohli and Sergio Perez: E1 produces new wave of celebrity ownership in sport
History is made as the first all-electric speedboat race concludes in Jeddah, with the level of celebrity ownership in the series equally as ground-breaking
Last Updated: 12/02/24 4:03pm
Tom Brady, Didier Drogba, Rafael Nadal, Virat Kohli and Sergio Perez. E1, a new all-electric speedboat racing series, has attracted some of the biggest names in sport and entertainment as team owners.
With a combined Instagram following of over 500 million, the line-up also includes global DJ Steve Aoki and Grammy-winning musician Marc Anthony.
From Hollywood descending on Wrexham, to Alpine attracting the likes of Rory McIlroy and Trent Alexander-Arnold to its investment group, the wave of celebrity ownership in sport is accelerating.
- NFL legend Brady invests in Birmingham | 'It's a real honour'
- McIlroy, Joshua, Alexander-Arnold join Alpine F1 investor group
- Extreme E: Why gender equal racing is the future of motorsport
Star names bring further reach and financing to sports ventures.
But is this contribution always meaningful? Or more comparable to a rich boy's club?
The driving forces
E1's first event concluded in February, with Team Brady coming out on top, and Team Miami, owned by Anthony, in second.
This is not Anthony's first endeavour into sports ownership, becoming a minority stakeholder of NFL team Miami Dolphins in 2009 with his then wife Jennifer Lopez.
"When we first bought the Miami Dolphins, in the first seven years we knew that we were restructuring the team. I learnt that losing hurts when you're an owner of a team, it burns differently," said Anthony.
"It's about patience. It's about what you lose. It's what you learn by losing. That's what I realised, right? Every challenge is an opportunity.
"I told [my E1 pilots] no matter what happens just chalk it up to, 'oh, well I know how that feels and I don't want to feel it ever again'.
Drogba was also in Saudi Arabia to support his pilots, 10-time British Powerboat champion Oban Duncan and Kuwaiti jet-ski world champion Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq.
"First of all, we like to make history, and we are [going to] make it this weekend. It's the first time meeting my team, [I'm] so proud of it, so proud of them," said Drogba.
"I believe it's important to talk about inclusion, diversity, education, healthcare, that's what we're doing in Africa [with the Didier Drogba Foundation] and we really want to spread that message all around the world.
"We want to see how we can bring more eyes to the continent. Yes, I represent Ivory Coast, but I believe as a matter of fact, we also represent Africa. "
There are strong individual motivations behind each team owner's involvement in E1.
Aoki's father, Rocky Aoki, was a professional offshore powerboat racer. Despite numerous injury-inducing crashes and mechanical failures, Rocky was twice champion of the Benihana Grand Prix.
"[Powerboat racing] is a big part of my family history. It was a big part of my dad's life," said Aoki.
"I think that carried through, and when [E1] was a conversation on the table, if I have time, if I'm willing to put in X, Y and Z. I was all in.
"I have the opportunity to continue the legacy of my father. I'm not going to be driving it...he's crazier than me. I just have some of his drive and ambition, and his courage."
The romance of legacy
Former McLaren Motorsport business director and NASA consultant Rodi Basso is the co-founder and chief executive of E1. Basso joined forces with Formula E and Extreme E founder Alejandro Agag in lockdown to electrify racing on water.
Basso explained that each team owner was attracted to E1 due to its potential for growth, but also the small matter of legacy. "The other point is a bit more romantic," he said.
"They are all at the peak of their careers. Some of them are still ongoing with entertainment and sport. They wanted to have a project with a big impact.
"Rafa Nadal, before he listened to the E1 project, spoke to his managers and his team, and he said, 'when I stop playing, find me a project with high Impact'."
Professor Carlos Duarte is world-leading marine ecologist and E1's chief scientist.
"Now thanks to the relationship with E1, Carlos [Duarte] is working on a project to make the Academy of Rafa more sustainable," said Basso.
"Look at the due diligence in order to reduce the emissions and make it a more sustainable initiative, which is an incredible result of this relationship. That's what has been exchanged equally across all of [the team owners]."
E1 aims to promote gender equality, with each team consisting of one male and one female pilot. However, all eight team owners are men.
"This my biggest frustration, I can tell you that," said Basso.
"We tried. we tried very hard, and I cannot mention the name, but the same level of names. You can figure it out. Someone who is not playing anymore."
"First of all, we still have four teams to announce, because in the short-term, let's say four or five years, we want to keep it to 12 teams maximum, then we will see.
"I don't know. I don't have any answer, but I'm very keen to really understand and try again with the next four."
Winning is everything
Like with all motorsport, winning is only possible through innovation.
E1's mission is to scale, but also to innovate technology that can be used in the real world.
"Not only do I love the water, not only was it a great opportunity to be a part of something so novel for the first time, and if you know anything about me, I'm one of those guys right, first through the door," said Anthony.
"I love the innovation. I love the message behind it. I believe that [E1] is the future."
Rodi Basso also detailed this ambition. "We take everything that we have learnt in motorsport and high-end automotive and we transfer it into the boat.
"Considering the gap in the culture of electrification there is in the marine industry, we have accelerated it by at least 15 years, with my boat, which we call the RaceBird."
Between E1's athlete team owners, there's seven Super Bowl titles, six Formula One Grand Prix wins, four Premier League titles, 22 tennis Grand Slams, and the ICC's male cricketer of the decade.
These men have won the biggest competitions on the globe, and this need to win has not faded.
"I'm highly competitive, even in my field," said Aoki.
"[I don't just] tour more than [any other] DJ, but any other music artists. Guinness Book of Records, most travelled music artist in one calendar year."
"You see the pedigrees of everyone else [who] has a team and they have astonishing records, but I'm glad that I'm in there because I don't want to be the underdog."
"[We're] fierce competitors, so we're going to build a strong team," said Drogba.
"We're inspired by legends such as Senna and Schumacher, but most especially by Lewis Hamilton, winning F1 championships, breaking barriers and acting as a leader for a new generation of pilots."
Sport gives celebrities the space to advocate for personal causes and have an impact on issues they care about.
But what ultimately ties each of these successful men together, and draws them to this new form of racing, is their desire for innovation, competition and legacy.
