Transat Café L’Or: a budget that continues to rise

The organisers of the Transat Café L’Or unveiled the key features of the 2025 edition’s budget on Monday. A rising budget of 5.9 million euros, to which must be added the cost for the arrival destination, around 1.4 million. Sailorz tells you more.

It was a rather unusual exercise in transparency that Antoine Robin, co-director of the Transat Café L’Or Le Havre Normandie (its full name), engaged in on Monday, October 6th, at the Parisian headquarters of JDE Peet’s France (which owns the Café L’Or brand). He was accompanied by Antoine Susini, Marketing Director of JDE Peet’s France.

He did, in fact, reveal the detailed budget for the 2025 double-handed transatlantic race. “Our general mindset, which is to be open about the event’s organisation, and the fact that we are a non-profit association structure explain this approach; if I were a private company, I wouldn’t necessarily do it so openly,” Antoine Robin explained to Sailorz. “We have nothing to hide; we simply respect the confidentiality of contracts with our partners, we won’t speak for them if they don’t want to express themselves.”

The specific nature of the transatlantic race, launched in 1993, is that since 2010, it has been organised by the Association Transat Café L’Or – formerly Jacques Vabre, the name change was announced in early December 2024 (see our article). JDE Peet’s France and the city of Le Havre are founding partners of the Association, with the Normandy region joining as an organising partner since 2017. “We are not in a classic sponsorship arrangement, just there to write a cheque, but truly as a co-organiser,” Antoine Susini emphasised. This association status explains why seeking profit is not a priority for the organisers; the primary objective is to present a balanced budget. A budget which is constantly growing, having risen from 2.3 million in 2017, to 2.5 million in 2019, 4 million in 2021, 5.5 million in 2023, and 5.9 million this year.

Compared to the previous edition (see our article), the distribution of revenue has significantly evolved. The share from public authorities has decreased from 34% to 32% of the overall budget, although the total funding remains stable, having not been impacted by the economic context, unlike what has been observed in other races. The city of Le Havre and the Martinique Tourist Board contribute 700,000 euros, the Normandy region 300,000, the Seine-Maritime department 80,000, and the Le Havre Seine Métropole urban community 60,000.The share from entry fees is sharply down – 14% compared to 22% – as there will be 74 starters on October 26th, compared to 95 two years ago, a drop which mainly concerns the Imoca class (18 versus 40). The entry fees are 6,500 euros for Class40 (42 boats), 10,500 for Ocean Fifty (10), 17,000 for Imoca and 48,000 for Ultim (4). This decrease is offset by a rising share from private partnerships (36% against 28%) and a more minor increase in revenue from the village, licences, and hospitality (18% against 16%).

Regarding private partners, whose overall funding amounts to a little over 2 million euros – JDE Peet’s France does not wish to disclose its own contribution – Antoine Robin is pleased that “none of them has departed compared to 2023, and we have succeeded in welcoming new ones.” This includes 11th Hour Racing, a sustainability partner – the announcement was made on Tuesday. The partnership pyramid, accessible from an entry ticket of around 50,000 euros, notably includes two “premium” partners” (minimum contribution of 300,000 euros), CMA CGM and BRED, with the race co-director specifying that there is “room for a third.”

While hospitality is still subcontracted to an external provider – the organiser takes a commission on sales – the Le Havre agency DBCOM, which brings together 150 local companies in a Club Transat Café L’Or (entry ticket 2,000 euros), the organisers of the transat have decided this year to internalise the management and commercialisation of the village (which generates 750,000 euros), which was previously also outsourced.“We made this choice for several reasons,” commented Antoine Robin. “First, because we wanted the selection of exhibitors to be consistent with our identity and positioning, especially environmental and societal; second, because it seemed easier to manage it directly with our partners, knowing that their presence in the village is an important element of the partnership; finally, because it allowed us to reinforce our commitment to having a more responsible village, notably with the development of recyclable wooden structures.”

On the expenditure side, 31% goes to marketing and communication, 21% to coordination and human resources, 26% to operations (village, logistics), 5% to CSR actions, and 17% to the sporting side, including a total sum of 525,000 euros which covers class endowments and the prize money. The latter is divided as follows: 100,000 euros awarded to the top three Ultim, 135,000 to the top five Imoca, 40,000 to the top three Ocean Fifty, 60,000 to the top five Class40.

This total budget of 5.9 million does not, however, include the cost of managing the arrival, which is entrusted to a “mirror association”, the Martinique Transat Association, which includes two founding partners, the Martinique Tourist Board and GBH (a distribution group with a strong presence in the Antilles), and two associated partners, the city of Fort-de-France and Défi Nautic, the structure of the sailor Gilles Lamiré, who worked extensively to promote the Martinique bid five years ago. Questioned by Sailorz, Damien de Longueville, president of the association (and regional director at GBH), mentioned a stable budget “between 1.3 and 1.4 million euros“, to which, in addition to the aforementioned partners, contribute companies and other local authorities, primarily CMA CGM and the Communauté d’Agglomération du Centre de la Martinique (Cacem).The arrival territory of the double-handed transat since 2021, will Martinique host the race again in 2027? The Transat Café L’Or Association launched a call for applications on July 22nd for the “destination partner for the next editions”. Submissions must be sent before October 31st, the organisation has subsequently planned to visit the locations by January, followed by six months of consultations, with the official announcement scheduled for December 2026. “Today, we have four potential destinations, in the Caribbean and South America,” Antoine Robin confided to Sailorz.

On Martinique’s side, Damien de Longueville explained: “We know that it takes time to develop a popular sporting event. 2021 was a curtailed edition for us due to Covid, 2023 was our first proper edition, we fully intend to do better this year and we want the event to continue to gain momentum. However, I need financial guarantees regarding our capacity to commit to several editions, so the decision to submit an application is not yet definitively validated.”