TEAM ORIGIN

Sir Keith Mills, the British businessman who ran London’s victorious bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, created a new British America’s Cup sailing team. The team, named ORIGIN, will comprise some of the world’s leading sailors and boat designers from the UK and beyond with the aim of winning the America’s Cup and bringing the world’s longest running sporting event back to British shores for the first time since its inception over 150 years ago.

At the announcement on the 4th January 2007 at the Design Museum in London, Sir Keith Mills revealed that ORIGIN will participate in at least two America’s Cup campaigns – the 33rd and 34th editions of the America’s Cup, likely to take place in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

ORIGIN, whose name is a reference both to Britain’s involvement in the creation of the America’s Cup in 1851 and to the formation of a new, fresh and innovative force in this sporting arena, is being formed by Sir Keith Mills to build on Britain’s unprecedented yachting heritage. It follows in the wake of recent successes enjoyed by Skandia Team GBR, the British Olympic and Paralympic sailing team, which has won more medals for Britain than any other sport in the last two Olympic Games, and the achievements of Britain’s numerous round-the-world ocean racing heroes.

The team is funded through a combination of private and commercial investment. With the substantial growth of the event in recent years from a media, marketing, hospitality and fan base point of view, sponsorship of the team represents a unique marketing opportunity for international companies trying to reach a global audience.