New York Mets owner Steve Cohen has purchased the fourth team in TGL, a golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that is set to launch in January.
Cohen’s team will operate in the New York market, joining franchises in Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta. Cohen Private Ventures, Cohen’s family office, will manage this team, which does not yet have a name.
TMRW Sports, a firm created by Woods, McIlroy and media executive Mike McCarley, formed TGL.
“We’re excited to partner with TMRW Sports and represent New York as a founding TGL team,” Cohen said in a statement Thursday. “As golf continues to grow in popularity, there’s a demand for enhanced access to the sport and the world’s top players. TGL’s primetime schedule will offer an up-close, fast-paced, and innovative take on the sport that will appeal to traditional golf and new fans alike. We’re excited to be a part of TGL and build a team that makes New York proud.”
Andrew B. Cohen, who has no relation to Steve Cohen, will be a minority investor for the New York-based team.
“It’s an innovative concept that combines technology, data and a competitive team format in primetime on Mondays,” said Andrew B. Cohen, the co-founder of Cohen Private Ventures. “Given the way golf is played now, both in simulators and on the course, I think it’s going to combine all those elements.”
Financial specifics of the deal were not released.
All six teams in TGL will hold a 3 percent stake in the league while also engaging in league-wide revenue sharing, according to a report from Sportico.
TGL is a virtual league, with each team featuring three PGA Tour players. Those squads will compete head-to-head in 18-hole match play. The regular season will consist of 15 two-hour matches before the semifinals, and a final is held to wrap up the campaign.
All matches will be played at a facility currently being built on Palm Beach State College’s campus in Florida. The Los Angeles team is owned by Alexis Ohanian and Venus and Serena Williams, Fenway Sports Group owns the Boston squad, and AMB Sports & Entertainment, run by Arthur Blank, will oversee Atlanta’s franchise.
“We obviously want to be in the right media markets, and in the right areas where fanbases will be able to lean into supporting their team and some natural rivalries that exist amongst fans in other sports,” McCarley said. “That points you to some of these major markets. So it was a factor, but not the only factor. The quality of the ownership group is also very important as well.”
–Field Level Media