The Drone Racing League has signed a sponsorship deal with Bud Light, marking the emerging property’s first major corporate partnership. The A-B InBev brand will begin its Drone Racing League partnership with a title sponsorship for the Bud Light DRL Tryouts, in which fans can use a newly developed online simulator to try out to be an actual DRL pilot during its '17 regular season. Bud Light will continue its DRL sponsorship during next year’s season, scheduled to run during the spring and summer. The deal was announced this morning at the ’16 Momentum Sports Marketing Symposium in N.Y. “This is a big step for the sport, but it’s only the beginning,” said DRL Founder & CEO Nick Horbaczewski. “Our core demo of the millennial, mid-to-late 20s and early 30s males lines up perfectly with theirs. And with doing these tryouts essentially through a video game, we’ve been able to blend the digital and the real.” Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal is a nearly one-year pact running through next summer. “We see a lot of opportunity with this property,” said Bud Light Digital Brand Manager Jesse Wofford. "We’re going to test and learn with Drone Racing and we wanted to get in early on this.” The deal was largely brokered internally, but Bud Light will lean on its sports experiential marketing agency of record, WME-IMG, to aid with executions over the coming months. DRL tonight will debut its first national commercial, airing on broadcast partner ESPN along with various other channels. The ad touts the new racing simulator and DRLTryouts.com website.
