Pilots take part in practice rounds at the Drone Racing League / Allianz World Championship final at Alexandra Palace on 8 June 2017 in London, England.
Adam Gray | Barcroft Media | Getty Images
Sportsman DraftKings and the Drone Racing League (DRL) on Friday announced an exclusive deal allowing people to bet on drone racing. It should also help provide DraftKings for a younger audience.
DRL is a first-person racing league where drone pilots race through courses in neon lighting and compete for the highest prize money. DRL did not give the amount it paid to its competitors, but in 2017, the grant amount reached $ 100,000.
The two parties did not provide financial terms of the transaction.
People in Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee and West Virginia can place bets on drone racing from their phones.
Founded in 2015, DRL has built up interest in younger sports fans over the years. It will complete the fifth season and will have a ‘level 14’ race event on Saturday, followed by the championship event, which has yet to be announced.
Drones used at events were designed and built by DRL. Identical models are built for each race. Each drone is worth about $ 2000 and can travel up to 90 miles per hour.
“DRL’s exciting, innovative racing events are perfect for the customized betting offerings we can create,” said DraftKings CEO Ezra Kucharz in a statement. “Our expertise in sports betting, combined with DRL’s competition with statistics, makes it a fun and seamless opportunity to engage their avid audience with tech-savvy, adrenaline-loving fans.”
DraftKings officials told CNBC that they had put the interest of DRL to the test with its popularity pools presented in November, and were pleased with the results. The firm had to switch to non-traditional sports offerings when leagues were closed last year due to Covid-19.
The DRL adaptation gives DraftKings access to Generation Z consumers. Pro-leagues still have problems.
DRL uses the label “tech-setters” to define the audience, describing the 16-34 age group as predominantly male and “deeply passionate about technology, science and gaming.” This group is also considered as sports fans who do not follow traditional leagues or sports like millennials.
DRL says this age group looks like its current fanbase.
“They are young; they are influential, technologically savvy,” DRL president Rachel Jacobson said in an interview with CNBC on Friday. Jacobson added that the league will unlock the “next generation of betting fans” for DraftKings.
According to data from Wasserman Media Group, DRL fans are three times more likely to make a sports bet and 90% more interested in sports bets compared to the average global sports fan.
The drone league has media rights deals with NBC Sports and Sky Sports, which are owned by CNBC parent company Comcast. It also has a streaming deal with Twitter to host its pre-flight shows. The league said its Thursday show had grown to 193,000 viewers, up from 75,000 viewers during the first show in December.
Jacobson said the company added eight new sponsorships in 2020, including sports drink maker Bodyarmor and a technology deal with T-Mobile, including building a 5G drone for the league.