Status on 30 October 2026
This is unsettled, and this page does not describe the DRL either as a league still running or, as a fact, as one that has closed.
- What was found: the last announced DRL event was the 2025 DRL U.S. Air Force Miami Invitational, set for 1 February 2025. No DRL season, event or result for 2026 was found.
- What Wikipedia says: the DRL is no longer active after a planned 2025 event was postponed indefinitely, and, as part of the league's liquidation, its assets, including Racer4 drones, were auctioned in 2026. Wikipedia cites an auction-house listing for this (retrieved 25 September 2026). That listing, like Wikipedia's other sources here, never appeared in a search result and was not read.
- What was not found: any statement from the DRL or its owner, and any news report, about the Miami postponement or a 2026 auction.
So the DRL's reported inactivity and auction rest on Wikipedia alone and are unconfirmed.
The last announced event: Miami, 1 February 2025
The Drone Girl, a trade publication, reported in October 2024 (updated in November) that the DRL U.S. Air Force Miami Invitational would be held on 1 February 2025 at loanDepot Park in Miami, with 12 pilots. It described it as the DRL's first major event since the league was acquired by Infinite Reality in April 2024, and the first DRL event with the U.S. Air Force as presenting name. The same report says founder and chief executive Nicholas Horbaczewski had been named Infinite Reality's global president. DroneLife reported the pilot line-up in November 2024.
Among the 12 announced pilots, The Drone Girl described MCK FPV of South Korea as the defending DRL World Champion, and Evan "Headsup" Turner as a two-time DRL World Champion and the 2025 U.S. Air Force Team Pilot. Those descriptions are the trade report's, in a DRL context; this page does not link them to pilots of the same names in other bodies' results.
Whether the Miami event took place is disputed:
- Wikipedia says a planned 2025 event was postponed indefinitely.
- A Drone Girl round-up of 2025 events, last updated on 25 June 2025, still listed the Miami Invitational as scheduled and mentioned no postponement.
- No DRL statement or news report of a postponement was found.
Champions
| Season | Champion, as Wikipedia lists them |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Jordan "Jet" Temkin |
| 2017 | Jordan "Jet" Temkin |
| 2018 | Paul "Nurk" Nurkkala |
| 2019 | Alex Vanover |
| 2020 | No championship; the season was cancelled for COVID-19 |
| Later seasons | Not listed by Wikipedia; not found from a primary source |
The Ringer, in September 2018, called Temkin a two-time DRL champion and the only champion to that date. Arab News reported that the 2018 championship final was held on 14 September 2018 at King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. A search summary of a Miami event listing says a DRL world championship race called "Miami 3-0-FLY" was held at loanDepot Park on 25 February 2023; its result was not read, and the event is unconfirmed.
How the DRL raced
The DRL raced aircraft it built itself, all identical, so that, as The Ringer put it in 2018, racing tested piloting rather than building. The Ringer names Racer3 for Season 2 and Racer3S for Season 3, with Racer4 in development in 2018; Wikipedia gives Racer2 in 2016, Racer3 in 2017 and 2018, and Racer4 from 2019. The Ringer says the league's simulator came out on Steam in June 2017 and that the DRL held an annual tryout on it.
When the DRL started is itself given several ways. Fortune reported in January 2016 that the first season would launch on 22 February 2016, while Wikipedia and Arab News say it began in January 2016. The fuller account is on Drone Racing League history.
Wikipedia lists the DRL's past broadcast partners as NBC, NBC Sports, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, FOX Sports Asia, Groupe AB, OSN and Twitter, with ESPN and Disney XD as former partners. Sports Illustrated reported in October 2016 that the final nine episodes of the DRL's fall 2016 season began airing on ESPN and ESPN2 on 23 October 2016. These are historical and are not a current schedule.
Not the Drone Champions League
The Drone Racing League is a different organiser from the Drone Champions League (DCL), which is running a 2026 season; see the Drone Champions League.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Drone Racing League (secondary)
- The Drone Girl, DRL U.S. Air Force Miami Invitational (22 October 2024, updated 20 November 2024)
- DroneLife, DRL U.S. Air Force Miami Invitational pilots (25 November 2024)
- The Drone Girl, 2025 drone events (last updated 25 June 2025)
- Refresh Miami, Drone Racing League world championship event at loanDepot Park (search-result summary only)
- The Ringer, The Drone Racing League (7 September 2018)
- Fortune, Now there's a Drone Racing League (26 January 2016)
- Arab News, DRL 2018 championship in Saudi Arabia (16 September 2018)
- Sports Illustrated, Drone Racing League and ESPN (1 October 2016)
- Drone Champions League, DCL 2026 season opener in Riyadh (22 January 2026)