The Drone Racing League has announced the launch of a six-event series this year, beginning with the first race telecast on Feb. 22. The second race, filmed in L.A., will air in mid-March. Cities being considered for future events include Detroit; Mexico City and Auckland, New Zealand (DRL). BLOOMBERG NEWS' Jing Cao noted the first event set to air on Feb. 22 was held at Sun Life Stadium last month and included shooting video of drones "zooming around the giant complex from various perspectives." The aim of the DRL, which includes Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross and N.Y.-based venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau Ventures as investors, is to being to mind "Star Wars" battle scenes and "grab the attention of the mainstream public." DRL Founder & CEO Nick Horbaczewski said, “We’re creating a whole new form of entertainment that straddles the digital and the real." Cao noted drone racing over the last two years has "grown from a niche hobby to more serious business." Dubai this year will host the first World Drone Prix, a tournament "with speed and freestyle categories held by the IDRA and an organization supported by Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum." Horbaczewski's main focus is creating "well-produced video content to be consumed on browsers and mobile devices, including ones that put the viewer in the pilot’s seat." SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen said that whether the DRL "will be able to bring the sport from hobby to professional will depend on whether the company can produce and show the content live." RSE Ventures CEO Matt Higgins said that the live component "will come later." He added that Horbaczewski is "first working out various technical problems -- including how best to capture the races, optimize the various perspectives, and weave the most interesting narrative about the pilots" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/26).
