Welcome to the 2021 Season! As of this writing, we are currently in the ‘player signing’ period. This is the time of the Off Season where teams have the ‘first right’ to re-negotiate with their current players. Once the signing period has passed, any players who have not already been signed are considered free agents and may talk to other teams if desired.Â
Next up, we’ll be participating in the American Grid Trials, hosted by the American Grid Association. This is a series of 12 short, fast tests, meant to showcase an athlete’s strengths, and how those strengths would translate to playing GRID. Anybody in the world can participate in the trials, and each test has a $100 prize for the best performance, AND $100 if you beat the best FGL player too. (Fun fact, last year one man, Griffin Roelle won $1,000 over the course of the Trials…not too shabby for a couple of 5 minute tests). Teams will be using these results to recruit new talent for their teams in the upcoming season. Every year we see more and more players from out of state, and out of the USA…we’re excited to see how many will participate and where they come from this year!
We’re still solidifying many of the details for the 2021 season, but here’s what we know so far…
- Timeframe is looking like early July through the Fall, with a Championship event sometime in September or October.Â
- We’ll shoot to have some inter-conference play this year
- We’re going to experiment with conference event formats…potentially double headers?! Our goals are to provide an excellent experience to our players and fans, so we’ll continue to figure out the best timeframes and parameters to work within.Â
- The As 1 Tournament featured shorter matches clocking in at about 1 hour which went over extremely well with the players, staff, and fans. We’ll be trying those out during the Season as well.Â
- We have a completely new way to earn points we’ll be announcing that will showcase our specialists more than ever before.Â
- And so much more! Â
As for COVID, we’re not sure how that’s going to affect our spectator situation, but we are investigating broadcasting as many matches as we can, so that people can watch whether or not they feel comfortable attending in person. We hope to have in-person spectators again, with safe COVID guidelines in place – but it’s too early to make that determination yet. Â
Interested in playing on a team? Be sure to sign up for notifications about the American Grid Trials coming this Spring. Â
What are you most excited for this season?
