An SWFL Sharks player and a Fort Lauderdale Lions player face each other, with both team logos and VS between them.

Match Preview · 2026 Season

2025 Championship Rematch Happening This Saturday

The last time these two teams raced each other, the 2025 championship was on the line. The Southwest Florida Sharks won it. The Fort Lauderdale Lions have not had a chance to answer since.

They meet again Saturday at 3:15 p.m. at American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the league’s first match in the Northeast.

Where They Stand

The Sharks are 2-0 and lead the West Conference. The Lions are 1-1 and hold the top seed in the East.

The Lions also carry a rank total of 31, the best mark in the league. The Sharks are at 38. Rank total takes every race a team runs, ranks that result 1 through 10 against the rest of the league in the same race format, and adds those numbers up across the season, so a lower total means a team has been finishing closer to the front more often. Here is how the system works.

Fort Lauderdale has been racing like a better team than 1-1, and Saturday is the best chance yet to prove it.

New on the Sharks Roster

Kyra Milligan makes her Grid League debut days after competing at the CrossFit Games in San Jose. She is listed as a utility player, meaning a coach can put her into any part of a match instead of saving her for one type of work.

Blake Kidder plays his first match of 2026. He is a strength specialist in his fifth Grid League season, and he was on the Sharks team that won the championship last year.

Blake Kidder, number 25 and a strength specialist for the SWFL Sharks, on his 2026 Grid League player card. — Blake Kidder returns for his fifth Grid League season.

New on the Lions Roster

Alex Velez is new to Fort Lauderdale this year, though he is not new to the sport. He has played in the league for years, he comes in as a utility player, and he also serves as a Lions co-coach.

Alexander Velez, number 10 and a utility player for the Fort Lauderdale Lions, on his 2026 Grid League player card. — Alex Velez joins the Lions as a utility player and co-coach.

How a Match Works

Two teams compete side by side in a series of races. Each race is worth points based on how the teams finish, and the team with the most points at the end of the match wins it. Grid League is the first co-ed team sport designed to entertain, and how a coach builds and deploys a roster matters as much as who is on it.