TMRW Sports Will be a Winner
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy joined forces to launch a technology sports business.
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Today At A Glance:
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are two of the most financially successful golfers. Together they co-founded TMRW Sports and rolled out the TGL. Today’s newsletter breaks down TMRW Sports and TGL. TMRW Sports has the opportunity to be one of their richest investments.
Read Time: 6 minutes.
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Hey Golfers —
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy rank in the Top 50 Highest Paid Athletes of all time.
Inflation-adjusted earnings, according to Sportico.
Tiger Woods — 2nd ($2.5 billion)
Rory McIlroy — 43rd ($545 million)
And those numbers are wild to think about when you compare them to their PGA Tour career earnings (not including bonuses). Ironically — the duo ranks one and two all-time.
Tiger Woods — 1st ($120.9 million)
Rory McIlroy — 2nd ($71.5 million)
For perspective on all-time earnings made off the course versus athletes in different sports.
Sportico ranks Lebron James 6th in all-time earnings with $1.53 billion. Lebron has made $432 million in career earnings in NBA contracts.
Sportico ranks Tom Brady 22nd in all-time earnings with $690 million. Tom has made $332 million in career earnings in NFL contracts.
Golfers seem to have incredible upside in earning money off the course. As a matter of fact — eight of the Top 50 Highest Paid Athletes of All Time are golfers. And five have made over $1 billion.
When Tiger and Rory’s careers are complete — they will have made hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment contracts and endorsement deals.
But the two have set themselves up for success in their investment funds. While they have invested in quasi-competitors through their respective funds — Tiger invested in PopStroke and Rory invested in Puttery — they have come together to co-found TMRW Sports.
And I think TMRW Sports has the most significant financial upside in all of their investments.
Last August, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy announced the formation of TMRW Sports — a company focused on harnessing technology to build progressive approaches to sports, media & entertainment.
Their first order of business?
Announcing TMRW Sports’ first project — TGL.
TGL will be a tech-infused golf league featuring six teams of three PGA Tour players. The league will start in January 2024 and feature two-hour 18-hole matches on Monday nights.
The league will have 15 regular season matches plus postseason play in the form of semifinals and championship matches. TGL is set to run from January to April. Each team will compete five times throughout the regular season.
TGL will be different from traditional golf. The matches will be played in a stadium with a simulator and an entire short-game area.
The matches will occur in a stadium on the Palm Beach State College campus in Palm Beach, Florida. TGL recently gifted the university $1 million in its partnership, and the TGL stadium is currently being built.
TGL has announced 12 golfers committed to the league — the roster is loaded.
The current roster has a combined $600 million in career PGA Tour earnings, and over 180 PGA Tour wins.
Even taking Tiger out of the equation, the league will represent over $450 million in career PGA Tour earnings, and over 100 PGA Tour wins.
Golfers will be competing for prize money in TGL events. Although the details have not been released to the public.
One item that is interesting to note — the PGA Tour has an equity stake in the TGL. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. But it appears to be a win-win for the PGA Tour and the golfers. Golfers will be able to make more money. And to be eligible to compete in the TGL — you need to be a PGA Tour golfer.
Jay Monahan has been visible in the process — most recently, he was breaking ground on the TGL stadium with the TMRW Sports team.
TGL has not announced a media deal yet. So how much are 30+ hours of primetime golf worth?
FOX had a media deal with the USGA for $93 million per year. The U.S. Open was the primary driver of the contract and typically sees around 5 million viewers during a Sunday round.
CBS has averaged 2.59 million viewers in four PGA Tour events this season, and NBC had 4.14 million viewers of its Sunday coverage at the Players Championship.
Will the TGL follow traditional PGA Tour viewership?
I would estimate a media deal being more than $50 million and less than $100 million.
One thing is certain — TMRW Sports has the right person leading the charge as their CEO. Mike McCarley was an NBC sports executive for more than 20 years leading NBC’s golf portfolio — Mike knows media deals in golf as well as anyone.
Here is why I like the idea of TGL. Off-course golf participation is booming. For the first time in the history of golf in the United States, there are more off-course than on-course golfers. From 2020 to 2022 — off-course golf added nearly 3 million participants. TGL caters to this style of golfer, with matches being conducted in a stadium on a simulator.
TGL is just the beginning for TMRW Sports. It has the potential opportunity to build similar leagues across other sports.
The investor list is massive in TMRW Sports — represented by athletes in ten different sports — not including golf. Over 30 professional athletes have invested in TMRW Sports.
Here are just five investors.
Josh Allen
Kevin Durant
Stephen Curry
Lewis Hamilton
Serena Williams
I believe that TMRW Sports is trying to build a $1 billion company — it isn’t just TGL.
One thing I wonder — how did the idea of TMRW Sports originate? Did Tiger have the idea when he was grinding on his short game in his backyard? Did Jay pitch the concept to Tiger and Rory?
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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Great info as always Jared! Here are the 30+ athlete investors in TMRW Sports if anyone is interested: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrewpetcash_athlete-founders-investors-are-on-the-rise-activity-7052261668860358656-Pybo