Nicholas Horbaczewski has made one thing clear: drone racing will be a global sport. On Thursday, the Drone Racing League and founder Horbaczewski announced a five-year extension to their partnership with Allianz. The European financial services company originally linked up with the DRL last year, adding drone racing to a slate of sports sponsorships that includes Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena and the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 team.
“From Allianz’s perspective, the proof that it’s been a good partnership is really in the announcement that we’re making, of the extension,” Horbaczewski says. “Obviously, our initial deal with them was sort of a two-year deal with the option to be longer if it’s performing a certain way and they saw results they liked and they were so impressed after the first year that they locked in a full five-year deal. I think that’s really rare when you’re starting a new sport, getting non-endemic sponsors into it is so hard in the first place, let alone the sort of blue-chip sponsors.”
On top of the extension, DRL unveiled plans for a 2018 race in France and a new media partnership with Groupe AB, the leading independent broadcast network in France and which already screens races from several other motorsports.
“You see us sort of expanding geographically both in terms of the physical races and the distribution,” Horbaczewski explains. “That’s living proof of our belief that drone racing is a global sport and it needs to be a global sport and we’re a global league both from a content and a race perspective.”
Here’s what else you need to know
– Over the past year, Allianz has made a move toward forward-thinking sports like drone racing. In particular, the insurance company sees drones as a major part of their business line. They’re especially interested in self-driving cars and the possibility of introducing drone insurance; both of which align with DRL.
– DRL hopes to partner with them on broader initiatives like what the future of transportation might look like.
– The 2018 race in France will be held at the Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice. On top of that, they’ll be hosting a race in Saudi Arabia — the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship.
– Groupe AB will begin broadcasting DRL’s 2016 and 2017 World Championship seasons to their viewers in France. Known as the origin point of drone racing, France is seen as a crucial market for the DRL to conquer.
SportTechie Takeaway
Founded in 2015, the DRL has wasted no time in going after their goal of becoming a global sport and league. Partnerships like the one with Allianz and BMW should go a long way in bringing more exposure.
Announced just about a month ago, their global partnership with BMW will include a championship race at the BMW Welt in Munich, Germany. They’ll also be capitalizing on the company’s wealth of knowledge in the area of aerodynamics.
As for the partnership with Groupe AB, it’s DRL’s recognition of sports distribution going global. The brand’s ability to take advantage of this emerging space could help them grow exponentially.
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