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If you’re anything like me, you were probably extremely confused at why all of a sudden there’s tons of coverage of NBA and NFL superstars playing pickleball.
As I always knew it, Pickleball was a game for middle-aged suburban moms or for high school gym classes. But these days, you’ve got names like Tom Brady, LeBron James and Kevin Durant playing and investing in the sport.
Whether or not that trend takes off is yet to be seen. But now it appears that the new niche sport for superstar athletes to try and invest in is cycling. And it’s growing at a massive rate.
Derwin James, Bradley Beal And Others Buy Into New Pro Cycling League
Unlikely pickleball, cycling is a sport that I’m a little more familiar with both as a participant and viewer. Though it hasn’t really caught on here in the US.
Now that appears to be changing.
Owen Poindexter of Front Office Sports reports that a number of superstar athletes have invested in the startup National Cycling League.
The National Cycling League announced a $7.5 million seed round on Thursday to fund its short-form, technology-forward racing league.
- The round was led by Will Ventures, co-founded by retired NFL player Isaiah Kacyvenski, and included investments from NBA star Bradley Beal, NFL players Jalen Ramsey, Derwin James, Kevin Byard, and Casey Hayward.
- Teams will race on closed-circuit street tracks in Miami Beach, Atlanta, Denver, and Washington, D.C., with an overall champion announced at the end of the season.
- Men and women will race on the same courses and will win equal prize money. – via FOS
Unlike mainstream pro cycling, which is focused on lengthy, often over 100-mile races, the NCL focuses on a type of racing called criteriums.
Criteriums involve multiple laps of a closed-circuit route, often through or around cities. The circuits are usually around .5 miles to 1.5 miles long and races are usually anything around 25-60 miles long.
Cycling hasn’t yet “made it” in the US, but this is a big step toward that happening.