National Pro Grid League

Logo of the National Pro Grid League.

The National Pro Grid League (NPGL) is a professional athletic organization consisting of co-ed teams. The teams compete in timed events in the competition space referred to as "the grid". The NPGL refers to the sport itself as GRID and describes it as "strategic team athletics racing".[1][2]

For each Grid "Match", two opposing teams compete in eleven races progressing across four quadrants of the Grid.[1] Each of the eleven races has a specific format that remains consistent, although the individual athletic tasks performed during each race vary from match to match. The athletic tasks performed incorporate weightlifting, gymnastics and bodyweight maneuvers denominated as "Elements" of each race.[2]

History

The sport was founded and developed by Tony Budding, a former employee of CrossFit Inc., who had had significant involvement in the CrossFit Games as media director.[3] The NPGL was originally to be named the National Pro Fitness League. However, the acronym NPFL was deemed to be too similar to more popular National Football League (NFL), and the name was changed to the National Pro GRID League.[4] Because of its similarities to CrossFit, Budding was able to secure early investors, a television contract with the NBC Sports Group,[5] and an opening night in Madison Square Garden. However, the NPGL halted operations midway through its inaugural season due to potential investors backing out, leading to cancellations of matches and causing for the season to finish its finals in a format very different than had been originally planned.[6] Towards the end of the season, Budding was quietly let go as the CEO of the NPGL and replaced by Jim Kean and Budding is no longer involved with the NPGL.[7]

Despite the league's initial strong ties to competitive CrossFit athletes, the DC Brawlers would win the NPGL Championship in the first two seasons using lesser known CrossFit competitors in their matches compared to other teams.[8][9]

Match formats

In the inaugural 2014 season, each Grid Match format was named after a prominent mountain, with current formats including Kilimanjaro, McKinley, Pike's Peak, Everest, and Teton.[2] In the second season, other prominent geographic landmarks were used such as Amazon.[10]

Rules

Each roster consists of 10 men and 10 women, but only 5 men and 5 women per team compete with 2 men and 2 women on the bench and 2 men and 2 women on the inactive roster. One athlete from each team must be 40 years of age or older. Races are 4 to 8 minutes in length. More rules are found at the league's website.[1][2][11][12][13][14][15]

Television coverage

The NPGL entered into an agreement with NBC Sports Group to televise the playoffs and championship on NBC Sports Network. The championships finals aired live on NBCSN on Friday, October 3, 2014, at 10:30 p.m. ET (22:30 ET), and a replay aired on NBC on October 5, 2014, at 1 p.m. ET (13:00 ET).[16][17]

Teams

Active teams

Ceased operations

References

  1. 1 2 3 How to Watch Grid, Part 1: The Team Dynamic, The Gridmaster, NPGL.com web site.
  2. 1 2 3 4 How to Watch Grid, Part 2: Understanding the Playing Field, and Race and Match Structure, The Gridmaster, NPGL.com website
  3. ↑ "Can the National Pro Fitness League Become the Next Big Thing?". Outside Magazine. May 21, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Fitness league hires Park Lane to raise $20M". Sports Business Daily. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  5. ↑ "NBC SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCES TELECAST SCHEDULE FOR 2015 NATIONAL PRO GRID LEAGUE COVERAGE". NBC Sports. June 12, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Our Thoughts on the First Season of the NPGL". Box Life Magazine. October 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Putting Functional Fitness on The Grid". The Good Men Project. January 15, 2015.
  8. ↑ "GRID All-Stars and Why I Was Wrong About Lindsey". Breaking Muscle. 2015.
  9. ↑ "The DC Brawlers aim to rule the new National Pro Grid League". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  10. ↑ "Announcing NPGL Final Match Format: Amazon". NPGL. September 7, 2015.
  11. ↑ How to Watch Grid, Part 3: Grid Scoring , The Gridmaster, NPGL.com website
  12. ↑ How to Watch Grid, Part 4: Following the Action, The Gridmaster, NPGL.com website
  13. ↑ How to Watch Grid, Part 5: Venues and Playoffs, The Gridmaster, NPGL.com website
  14. ↑ Team Structure Changes for 2015, The Gridmaster, NPGL.com website
  15. ↑ National Pro Grid: Exercise Becomes Sport, 90.9 WBUR Boston's NPR News Station, WBUR.org website
  16. ↑ NBC Sports Group to Present Exclusive Coverage of Grid Playoffs and Final, The Gridmaster, NPGL.com website
  17. ↑ NBC SPORTS GROUP TO PRESENT EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE INAUGURAL NATIONAL PRO GRID LEAGUE PLAYOFFS AND FINAL, NBC Sports Group Press Box, July 9, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Carolina Crush Not Continuing in 2015". NPGL. February 20, 2015.
  19. ↑ Philadelphia Founders Not Operating for 2015

External links

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