TGL, the tech-driven team golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports, has brought in existing PGA Tour and DP World Tour tournament sponsor Genesis as its founding partner.
The Korean car brand, which is the luxury division of owner Hyundai, has a strong relationship with the PGA Tour as title sponsor of the Genesis Invitational and sponsor of the Presidents Cup. Genesis also title sponsors the DP World Tour’s Genesis Scottish Open, co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour, and the Genesis Championship in South Korea.
The PGA Tour has backed the launch of TGL in order to connect with a younger demographic and rival the growing popularity of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf series. The league has announced a roster of star names, including Woods, McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler and Ludvig Åberg.
The tour’s commercial team has been working with TMRW Sports to secure sponsors, although the deal with Genesis was negotiated by Katy Mollica, TMRW Sports’ head of global partnerships.
TGL announced its presenting sponsor SoFi Technologies in October, with the company, which is not a PGA Tour sponsor, also taking naming rights to the custom-built arena in Florida that will house the TGL competition. It has since also unveiled a series of licensing partners – including Adidas, Greyson, Johnnie-O, Peter Millar, Swannies, Seamus, 47 Brand and 500 Level – that will outfit the six TGL teams and produce other merchandise.
While TGL’s launch was pushed back to January 2025 due to severe damage to its new SoFi Center venue, the venture has attracted significant interest. Earlier this week, TMRW Sports’ Series A investment round valued TGL at around $500m (€456m). The valuation comes on the back of a crucial US broadcast deal with ESPN.
TGL will launch on the first three Tuesdays of January next year, beginning on January 7 in primetime on ESPN and ESPN+. The Disney-owned broadcaster, like fellow PGA Tour networks CBS Sports and NBC Sports, had a first option on the US rights as a result of TMRW Sports’ close ties with the Tour.
The ESPN deal is understood to include a rights fee as opposed to being a time-buy or straight revenue-sharing agreement. TGL sponsors will, however, enjoy preferred positioning during the broadcasts. The broadcaster has committed to showing 15 regular-season matches, the semi-finals and finals on ESPN or ESPN2 with supplementary live streaming on ESPN+.
TGL’s first international broadcast deals (in Australia, Japan and South Korea) were exclusively reported by SportBusiness in April. CAA Evolution, the media advisory and merchant banking arm of CAA, advises TMRW Sports on its domestic and international rights sales.
Mike McCarley, chief executive and founder of TMRW Sports and TGL, said: “The Genesis brand aligns perfectly with TGL through their commitment to designing exceptional and innovative products, and their demonstrated commitment to golf all around the world. We value their focus on providing unique, world-class experiences to consumers.”
Mike Song, global head of Genesis, added: “At Genesis, we design our customer experiences with a tailored approach to ensure that every experience is both unique and original. We take the same approach with our golf partnerships and believe in TGL’s mission to harness technology to build a truly unique platform that blends golf, media, and entertainment.”