They have been used to bomb terrorists. They have been used pompously by CNN as a method of covering news. They are fun toys that make for good Christmas presents. Now they could become one of the world’s newest mainstream sports. Welcome to drone racing.
The remote-controlled aircrafts reach speeds of 80 mph as the pilots wear specialized first person view (FPV) goggles, which allow them to see through the lense of the drone during flight.
Nick Horbaczewski, CEO of the Drone Racing League, told TIME how it all happened.
"About two years ago you start to see communities forming online--forum posts, how do I build a drone, where can I race it," he said.
According to TIME Magazine, "The basic idea is, you get a bunch of drone flyers together. You lay out a course. You route the video feed from your drone's forward-facing camera through a pair of VR goggles, which gives you a drone's-eye-view of the action. This is called first-person view, or FPV, and it makes you feel like you're inside the drone or possibly like you are the drone."
Discovery’s Eurosport is the most recent network to sign a deal with DR1 Racing, a drone racing company located in Los Angeles, to broadcast the fast-paced races of the small flying machines. According to Reuters, it’s a one-year deal “to broadcast the Drone Racing Invitationals on Nov. 8 as well as three additional races next year in 70 countries.”
Eurosport, a sports media group with a total of 228 million subscribers in 93 countries, aims to reach millennials with the new drone racing deal.
Peter Hutton, chief executive of Eurosport, stated, "We think the space has gotten interesting…and we like the idea of having storylines around individuals that we can build up as heroes. We see this as a journey toward a younger demographic."
Other networks signing up to broadcast races through the year-old Drone Racing League include Disney’s ESPN, British broadcasting affiliate Sky Sports, and Germany's ProSiebenSat.
Sky Sports invested $1 million in the league as well, in order to bring televised drone races to the U.K. and Ireland.
The upcoming 2016 World Drone Racing Championships are set to air exclusively on ESPN at Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii from Oct. 17 to Oct. 22. Pilots from “over 30 countries around the world will be competing on world-class courses” for “$100K in cash, prizes and trophies across multiple categories including individual, wing, freestyle and team.”