IDEAL INDUSTRIES, INC. will host its annual IDEAL National Championship from Nov. 4-6, to be held at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, FL. Over the course of the event, 145 electrical trade professionals and apprentices from around the U.S and Canada will show off their skills and compete for the chance to win championship titles and their share of over $600,000 in cash and prizes, along with recognition as an elite electrician.
Competitors will demonstrate their skills in four rounds of intense challenges that electricians typically face on service requests, including a commercial pull box prep and install, a commercial panel install, a three-way switch install, and an entire panel change-out. The 2022 IDEAL National Championship will be hosted by Chip Wade and is free to the public to attend.
Road to Finals Week
Competitors at the finals event must earn their way there by demonstrating their range of knowledge by installing a receptacle, splicing, and testing for continuity. Scores were based on the quality of work and the time it took to complete the challenge with the winner of each state advancing to Finals Week.
Over 800 qualifying events were hosted across the U.S. and Canada at electrical distributor locations, retailers such as Lowe's as well as trade schools and industry organizations such as the Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC), the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
In addition to the standard Qualifying events, IDEAL supercharged the chances for electricians to advance by adding six additional "Automatic Qualifying Events," where the winner of that event would fast track straight to the Finals competition in Tampa. On top of that, every single electrician that competed who did not win their state was entered into IDEAL's "Champions Recharged" drawing, where ten electricians and ten apprentices advanced to Championship Weekend as "Wild Card" competitors.
2022 IDEAL National Championship Prize Structure
A total of 145 professional and apprentice Qualifying Round winners from the U.S. and Canada will advance to the 2022 National Championship event in Tampa this year. They will compete not only for over $600,000 in cash and prizes, but also to realize the distinction of being one of the world's elite electricians.
Individual prizes include:
- 1st place: $60,000 for professionals, $40,000 for apprentices
- 2nd place: $25,000 for professionals, $20,000 for apprentices
- 3rd place: $10,000 for professionals, $10,000 for apprentices
The 2022 IDEAL National Championship Finals event in Tampa can be rewatched in December, when CBS Sports will air a special broadcast of the competition to celebrate and honor the hardworking men and women of the electrical trade community. A live stream of the final rounds of the 2022 IDEAL National Championship will be available to watch on IDEAL’s Facebook page tentatively starting at 1:00 p.m. CST Saturday, Nov. 5.
