It's official: drone racing is becoming a sport.
The International Drone Racing Association signed a multi-year, international distribution deal with ESPN. The first televised event will be the U.S. National Drone Racing Championships that will take place on Governors Island in New York City August 5-7.
The event will be streamed live on ESPN3 followed by a one-hour special on ESPN following the race's conclusion. ESPN will also cover the 2016 World Drone Racing Championships in October.
“We look forward to providing drone racing fans a larger platform to access this exciting world,” Matthew Volk, ESPN director of programming & acquisitions, wrote in a press release. “Drone racing is an opportunity to reach and connect with a growing and passionate audience.”
Both events are first-person-viewing races, meaning the drones will be equipped with tiny video cameras that will feed a live stream to goggles worn by the racers.
Drone racing is becoming an increasingly popular sport. The recently formed Drone Racing League is attempting to bring drone racing into the mainstream by holding events throughout the year and uploading them online. But a big hindrance preventing the DRL from catching on is races are uploaded weeks after the event and aren't televised or available for live streaming — though the DRL plans to do both those things later down the road.
Bringing drone racing to ESPN could help legitimize these events as sports.
