Unbelievable! Discover the Staggering Queue of Investors Eager to Join Tiger Woods’ Virtual Golf League

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Monday night football is an institution in the United States, with millions of fans tuning in every week to watch the biggest games in the National Football League. Can Monday night golf compete?

That is the hope of those backing the planned TGL Golf Championship, an attempt to reinvent the game, spearheaded by superstar players Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy through their investment vehicle, TMRW Sports Group, in partnership with the PGA Tour.

The concept has six teams of three players go head-to-head each Monday evening for a two-hour round played partly on a high-tech golf simulator and partly on a putting green inside a purpose-built arena. Organizers hope the games, which will take place in the new arena rather than on a golf course, will be broadcast to homes across the United States during prime time.

The distilled format was designed to appeal to a wider audience than just traditional golf enthusiasts, with the action condensed into snippets that can be easily posted on social media. Data will be a key part of the experience, both for people watching live inside the Palm Beach, Florida arena that will host up to 2,000 fans, and for those tuning in online around the world.

The league, which is due to launch in January next year, has already attracted some top golfers. Along with Woods and McIlroy, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm signed up to play for one of the teams.

“It’s very star focused,” says Mike McCarley, chief executive officer of TMRW Sports. “It’s a modern take on a game that has 600 years of history and tradition. We are taking the sport and using a modern approach which should be a way to bring in new fans who may or may not have followed golf in the past.”

Investors have rallied behind the plan. A roster of celebrities and sports personalities have lent their endorsements to TMRW Sports, including Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, singer Justin Bieber, baseball player Mike Trout and basketball player Kevin Durant.

Big names in sports investing have joined them, including Blackstone executive David Blitzer, Michael Rubin, founder of sports merchandising Fanatics, and Greg Maffei, managing director of Liberty Media, which owns F1.

First-team franchises were awarded last month, with the Los Angeles Golf Club going to social news site Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, his wife Serena Williams and his sister Venus.

Ohanian has a background in sports investing through Angel City FC, the women’s soccer club. An avid NFL fan, golf first caught her attention during the pandemic, as interest in the outdoor sport grew. His daughter Olympia started taking lessons, which led him to the golf course for the first time. Before that, she says, “I was totally unaware of the sport.”

Then came a call from Woods, a longtime friend, with a presentation for TGL that quickly convinced him that using technology to reduce golf to shareable action clips had the potential to reach a whole new fan base. . “For the first time ever, you’ll see these pivotal moments,” says Ohanian. “These moments will look spectacular to a casual fan who simply scrolls through the feed thinking ‘wow, this is way more fun than I thought golf was.'”

Ohanian hopes other elements of the format, such as the three-person team, provide ample opportunity for owners to “tell stories” and build an audience, in the same way the Netflix series Drive to survive raised the profile of F1 in the US.

Soon after Ohanian and the Williams sisters had secured the rights to the Los Angeles team, plans were announced by Fenway sports groupowner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team and Liverpool FC in the English Premier League football, to create a New England franchise team.

While Ohanian has a track record of building online communities, FSG has extensive experience with traditional sports fanbases, such as the passionate crowds that follow Liverpool and the Red Sox. He hopes this will help him bring golf to a new, younger audience.

For the first time ever, you’ll see these pivotal moments

“The idea is what really excites us – and it will be executed with the best PGA Tour players in the world,” says Tom Werner, president of FSG. He identifies the Indian Premier League cricket competition as inspiration: “Look at what happened in India,” he points out. “Cricket lasted for four or five days. Someone had the idea to change the format and condense it into a couple of hours, and look what happened.”

The business plan is likely to match the traditional model in sports: a mix of TV revenue, endorsements and merchandising, but with lower overhead. TGL hopes to announce the team’s remaining four owners by the end of the summer, along with, McCarley says, a media rights deal.

No financial terms have been disclosed for the franchise purchase agreements. All team owners will receive a 3% share in TGL, players will share 10%, and the PGA Tour will have 18%. TMRW Sports holds a 54% stake.

McCarley says the recent deal reached between the PGA Tour and the Saudi public investment fund hasn’t changed plans for TGL, the idea over which preceded a spat between the Tour and Saudi-backed breakaway competition LIV Golf.

Those involved with TGL seem optimistic that the effects of this worldwide golf controversy over the past year and a half will have no impact on their project. “It’s full speed ahead for TGL and what we’re doing,” says Ohanian.