Drone Racing Turned Into a Million Dollar Sport by the Owner of Miami Dolphins

Drone racing may soon be turned into a competitive sport. The owner of the Miami Dolphins, Stephen Ross, made an investment of $1 million in a New York based startup known as Drone Racing League (DRL), which is planning to make drone racing a proper sport that can be enjoyed by the public.

DRL plans to capitalize on the success of fast-twitch sports, which have popularity among the public in recent years. The X-Games, which started out as an innovative non-conventional idea for sports is now a major biannual sporting event which has attracted millions of people from across the globe. DRL compares drone racing to the X-Games and hopes to achieve the same level of success. DRL is planning to have the first public drone race by the end of this year.

One of the cofounders of the startup, Nick Horbaczewski, said that the idea will be successful because it combines two factors that are sought after by today’s audience: sports involving the conventional racing theme and latest technology. In the proposed sport, racers will bring their custom-made drones which will have cameras installed on them. The racers will view the camera footage on their video goggles and control their unmanned aircrafts remotely.

There are a number of exciting features added to the sport such as obstacles, crashes, drone speeds of up to 70 mph, and turning virtual reality gear into a vital part of the sport. There have been some limitations to the sport such as providing a good view to the public as the drone sizes may make it challenging for spectators to watch the drones from a distance. There is significant potential in this sport as there are some other organizations actively working to turn drone racing into a sport, and international competitions have also been announced for the future.