Dad Vail Regatta nabs new sponsor

The Dad Vail has been a fixture in Philadelphia since 1953, but financial issues threatened to take the race to New Jersey. Now the race is committed to Philadelphia and has Aberdeen Asset Management as its title sponsor.

The Dad Vail Regatta has a new title sponsor. The change is designed to keep the major rowing event in Philadelphia.

The Dad Vail has been a fixture in Philadelphia since 1953, but financial issues threatened to take the race to New Jersey.  Now the race is committed to Philadelphia and has Aberdeen Asset Management as its title sponsor.  Aberdeen CEO Martin Gilbert says the company is paying over $100,000 to sponsor the event.

“Which gives us I think the right time frame to develop the event, which we believe is the right amount of time,” says Gilbert. “We have a long history of getting involved and helping the event get bigger.  So we take a pretty active role as sponsors and during the time we did the Oxford-Cambridge boat race it became a global event, so we are very keen on seeing it get bigger and better.”

The city of Philadelphia is spending about 300 thousand dollars to improve to the finish line and grandstand area on the banks of the Schuylkill.