Global Courant 2023-05-23 16:00:00
The National Thoroughbred League will be “akin to Formula I” with a “festival-like atmosphere”
Rick Ross and Nelly is among a list of high-profile team owners of the National Thoroughbred League (NTL), an organization being billed as a “first-of-its-kind” horse racing league. While horse racing has traditionally been a solo sport, the NTL has crafted city-based teams and is set to debut over Labor Day weekend in Nashville.
Co-Founded by Randall Lane, the chief content officer for Forbes, and investor Robert Daugherty, the reworked sports intends to make “race weekends a lifestyle.” According to a press release, the “weekend-long festival-like atmosphere” will be “akin to Formula I,” and the debut will feature a concert and whiskey and bourbon lawn party in collaboration with Pappy Van Winkle.
The NTL promises to be one of the “first truly co-ed sports leagues” with both male and female jockeys competing on the same teams at multi-race competitions. (Equestrian sports are generally co-ed, but female jockeys make up a minority of jockeys overall.) Horses will compete “month after month, year after year” to create “long-term stars” fans can root for.
The six original teams will represent New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Seattle, Nashville, and Philadelphia. Each “Cup” will consist of a three-race series, run consecutively, and include horses from each of the six teams entered in each race. Accrued points will determine the overall winner, and the champion team at the end of the season will take home a $1 million grand prize.
Nelly is scheduled to perform at the California Mid-State Fair with TI in the Chumash Grandstand Arena at the Paso Robles Event Center on July 24. The Grammy award-winning rap artist performed at the nostalgia-driven Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas earlier this month.
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Rick Ross was slated to appear alongside Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, and DJ Steve Aoki at this year’s Atlantic City’s Bamboozle Festival before it was abruptly shut down.
