If you have tuned into ESPN on a Monday night in the last few months and found yourself watching golf inside what looks like a giant video game arena, you have already seen TGL in action. It is loud, fast-paced, and completely unlike anything golf has ever looked like before. But behind those neon lights, massive simulator screens, and mic’d-up superstars, there is a fascinating ownership structure involving two of the greatest golfers alive, one of the sharpest sports media executives in the business, and some of the biggest celebrity investors in American sports culture.
So who actually owns TGL? The answer starts with a late-night conversation between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and ends with a league that is already rewriting the rules of how golf is consumed and experienced around the world.
Here is everything you need to know.
What Is TGL?
TGL — which stands for TMRW Golf League — is a golf league created by TMRW Sports, a venture formed by sports executive Mike McCarley and professional golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in partnership with the PGA Tour. The league employs a combination of traditional golf play with elements of simulated indoor competition.
TGL presented by SoFi is a new golf league combining advanced technology with teams of top players from the PGA Tour for two-hour weekly competitions in prime time. Six TGL teams representing six different cities go head-to-head in a season-long competition at SoFi Center, a first-of-its-kind venue built specifically for TGL on the campus of Palm Beach State College.
In plain terms, think of it as golf meets the NBA. Players represent city-based teams, matches are fast and packed into two hours, everyone is mic’d up, and the whole thing happens inside a futuristic arena that cost tens of millions of dollars to build from scratch. Matches air on ESPN and the ESPN App in the U.S. with every shot live and all the players mic’d up, bringing unprecedented access to the competition for golf fans.
Who Owns TGL? The Direct Answer
TGL is owned and operated by TMRW Sports, the parent company behind the entire league. Within that structure, ownership breaks down into three clear layers.
TMRW Sports holds 54% of TGL equity, with the PGA Tour holding 18% of the league. Each of the six franchise teams holds a 3% equity stake in the league, accounting for the remaining 28% of total equity.
That means the people at the very top of the ownership pyramid are the three co-founders of TMRW Sports — Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Mike McCarley. These three men conceived, built, and launched this league from scratch, and they collectively control the majority of it through their ownership of TMRW Sports.
TMRW Sports was founded in 2022 by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and former Golf Channel executive Mike McCarley, and its first project is the tech-driven team golf league, TGL. A funding round values TMRW Sports at nearly $500 million.
The Three Founders: Tiger, Rory, and McCarley
Understanding who owns TGL means understanding the three people who built it.
Tiger Woods needs no introduction. He is the most recognizable golfer in history, a 15-time major champion, and arguably the most influential athlete of his generation. Woods, McIlroy, and former Golf Channel president Mike McCarley are founding partners in TMRW Sports, the sports and entertainment company behind TGL. Tiger also took his ownership role one step further by becoming the owner and player of Jupiter Links Golf Club, the Florida-based team that plays its home matches essentially in his backyard.
Rory McIlroy is a four-time major champion from Northern Ireland and one of the most marketable athletes in the sport today. As a grand slam major champion, McIlroy has been a dominant force since joining the PGA Tour in 2010 with 29 PGA Tour wins, including five major championships and three FedExCup championships. McIlroy is also a co-owner of Boston Common Golf, the TGL team associated with Boston that is backed by Fenway Sports Group.
Mike McCarley is the business brain behind the operation. McCarley serves as CEO and leads TMRW Sports’ strategic approach to exploring new ventures that will influence the evolution of sports experiences, including TGL. Before TMRW Sports, McCarley ran Golf Channel as its president and spent years at NBC Sports. He is the person who turned Tiger and Rory’s idea into an actual functioning league with a venue, a television deal, franchise owners, and corporate sponsors.
TGL Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Stakeholder | Role | Equity Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| TMRW Sports (Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Mike McCarley) | League Founders & Controlling Owners | 54% of TGL equity | Founded 2022; TMRW valued at ~$500 million |
| PGA Tour | Strategic Partner & Equity Holder | 18% of TGL equity | Official league partner; key to player access and scheduling |
| Each of 6 Franchise Teams | Franchise Owners | 3% per team (18% total) | Six teams each hold a 3% stake in the overall league |
| Tiger Woods | Co-Founder & Team Owner | Part of TMRW stake + Jupiter Links owner | Only active player who also owns his own team |
| Rory McIlroy | Co-Founder & Team Owner | Part of TMRW stake + Boston Common co-owner | Co-founded TMRW Sports in 2022 |
| Mike McCarley | CEO & Co-Founder | Part of TMRW stake | Former Golf Channel president; day-to-day league operator |
| Dynasty Equity & Connect Ventures | Series A Investors | Undisclosed minority stake | Co-led the Series A round valuing TMRW at ~$500 million |
| ESPN | Media Partner | No equity; rights holder | Multi-year deal; all matches air on ESPN and ESPN2 |
| SoFi | Title Sponsor | No equity | Naming rights partner for both the league and the arena |
Who Owns Each TGL Team?
One of the most remarkable things about TGL is the caliber of people who stepped up to own its six franchises. This is not a list of anonymous private equity firms — it reads more like a guest list at the ESPY Awards.
The 2025-2026 TGL teams include: Los Angeles Golf Club, owned by Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams; Atlanta Drive GC, owned by Arthur M. Blank; Boston Common Golf, owned by Fenway Sports Group; New York Golf Club, owned by Steven Cohen; The Bay Golf Club, owned by Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund and Stephen Curry; and Jupiter Links Golf Club, co-owned by Tiger Woods.
Let us break each of these down because every single one of these ownership groups has a story worth knowing.
Los Angeles Golf Club is led by Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams. LAGC’s ownership includes renowned figures like Alexis Ohanian, Seven Seven Six, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams, along with limited partners like the Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex Morgan, Servando Carrasco, and Michelle Wie West. That ownership group alone reads like a who’s-who of American sports and culture.
Atlanta Drive GC is owned by Arthur M. Blank, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS’s Atlanta United. He is one of the most experienced sports franchise owners in America, and he brought that same professionalism to TGL.
Boston Common Golf is owned by Fenway Sports Group — the same organization that owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC in England, and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL. Rory McIlroy competes for this team, giving it a built-in superstar draw.
New York Golf Club is owned by Steven Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire who also owns the New York Mets in MLB. Cohen is known for spending aggressively to build winning teams, and his involvement in TGL signals that the league has attracted the very top tier of sports ownership.
The Bay Golf Club represents the San Francisco Bay Area and is co-owned by Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund and NBA superstar Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. The ownership also includes limited partners Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson — giving The Bay Golf Club one of the most star-studded NBA rosters in its ownership box.
Jupiter Links Golf Club is the most unique team in the league because its owner — Tiger Woods — is also its player. Woods said having the opportunity to not only compete but also own a team to represent Jupiter is an exciting next chapter for him. There is no other major sports league in the world today where the greatest active star in the sport also owns one of its franchises and plays for it.
The PGA Tour’s Role: Partner, Not Rival
One of the most strategically smart things Tiger and Rory did when building TGL was to bring the PGA Tour inside the tent from the very beginning — rather than position TGL as a competing product.
The PGA Tour was quick to endorse TGL, with Tiger’s involvement no doubt critical. The PGA Tour owns an 18 percent ownership stake and unlike LIV Golf, TGL has never been viewed as a rival golf tour.
That distinction matters enormously. LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, launched as a direct competitor to the PGA Tour and created years of controversy, legal battles, and player defections. TGL took the opposite approach — partner with the PGA Tour, give them a meaningful equity stake, and build something that makes the entire ecosystem of professional golf stronger. The result is that TGL gets access to the world’s best players without any of the drama that surrounded LIV.
The Arena: SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens
You cannot talk about who owns TGL without mentioning the extraordinary venue that makes it all possible.
SoFi Center measures nearly 250,000 square feet and is where all the action takes place. It holds up to 1,500 people and includes a field of play spanning about the size of a full-length football field in total. It includes two areas on the field of play — the ScreenZone for shots into the screen and the GreenZone, where the teams finish each hole.
TGL was originally planned to launch in 2024. It was delayed until 2025 after the host arena under construction was damaged due to a power failure. That delay cost the league an entire season of momentum, but when it finally launched on January 7, 2025, the result was worth the wait. Nearly one million viewers tuned in to opening night — and the audience skewed younger than traditional golf broadcasts, exactly as the founders had hoped.
The Expansion Story: Motor City and Beyond
TGL is growing fast. TGL presented by SoFi announced the formation of its seventh team — Motor City Golf Club — representing Detroit and starting in TGL’s third season in 2027. Motor City Golf Club’s ownership group is led by Middle West Partners, led by principals Michael Hamp, Peter Hamp, and Kevin Kelleher, who all have Detroit roots.
And the expansion ambitions do not stop there. TMRW Sports is also growing with WTGL, a new women’s team golf league launching in the near future. Alexis Ohanian, the LAGC owner, has been one of the loudest voices pushing for LPGA stars to be included in the TGL universe. Ohanian said part of his original pitch to become a team owner in TGL was that the league would at some point expand to include women, and CEO Mike McCarley publicly confirmed they are actively working on that initiative.
How TGL Is Different From Traditional Golf
Most people who watch golf on a Sunday afternoon are watching one player walk alone across a 7,000-yard course for four hours. TGL is the opposite of that in almost every way.
TGL blends advanced technology and live competition in primetime. Matches are fast-paced and team-based — three-on-three, completed in about two hours — with PGA Tour stars going head-to-head. Players are mic’d up. There is a referee, timeouts, and twists like The Hammer that shift the matches’ momentum.
Each TGL event complements the PGA Tour schedule as part of the league’s partnership with the tour. The weekly matches lead to the playoffs, which ultimately culminate with one team winning the SoFi Cup. Similar to the NHL, TGL uses a points-based system for regular-season matches.
The format is designed specifically to attract younger viewers who grew up watching eSports and NBA basketball — people who want constant action, big personalities, and a result in under two hours. The early ratings suggest it is working.
TGL is owned at its core by TMRW Sports, the company co-founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Mike McCarley in 2022. TMRW Sports controls 54% of TGL equity, with the PGA Tour holding 18% and each of the six franchise teams holding 3% each. TMRW Sports itself was valued at nearly $500 million following its Series A funding round.
The six franchise teams are owned by some of the most powerful and recognizable names in American sports and business — from Serena Williams and Stephen Curry to Arthur Blank and Steven Cohen. And the entire league airs on ESPN in a multi-year deal that gives it primetime exposure to tens of millions of households every week.
From a late-night idea between two golf legends to a $500 million sports entity with a custom-built arena, a PGA Tour partnership, and a roster of celebrity franchise owners — TGL has become one of the most exciting ownership stories in modern sports.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who founded TGL golf league and when?
TGL was founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and former Golf Channel president Mike McCarley through their company TMRW Sports, which was established in 2022. The league officially launched on January 7, 2025 after a one-year delay caused by construction damage to the SoFi Center arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The idea behind TGL was to create a technology-driven, team-based golf league that could attract younger audiences and complement the traditional PGA Tour schedule rather than compete with it.
Q2. Who owns the most of TGL?
TMRW Sports — the company co-owned by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Mike McCarley — holds the largest single ownership stake in TGL at 54% of total league equity. The PGA Tour is the second-largest stakeholder at 18%. Each of the six franchise teams holds a 3% equity stake in the league, accounting for the remaining portion. Among individuals, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as co-founders of TMRW Sports are the two people with the greatest ownership interest in the overall league.
Q3. Does the PGA Tour own TGL?
Yes, but only as a minority partner. The PGA Tour holds an 18% equity stake in TGL, making it a significant financial partner in the league’s success. This arrangement was deliberately structured from the beginning to ensure TGL was a complement to the PGA Tour rather than a competitor. Unlike LIV Golf, which launched as a direct rival to the PGA Tour and triggered years of conflict, TGL was built with the PGA Tour’s blessing and equity participation from day one.
Q4. Who owns the individual TGL teams in 2026?
The six TGL teams and their owners as of the 2025-2026 season are: Los Angeles Golf Club owned by Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams; Atlanta Drive GC owned by Arthur M. Blank; Boston Common Golf owned by Fenway Sports Group; New York Golf Club owned by Steven Cohen; The Bay Golf Club co-owned by Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund and Stephen Curry; and Jupiter Links Golf Club co-owned by Tiger Woods. A seventh team, Motor City Golf Club representing Detroit, will join the league in Season 3 starting 2027.
Q5. How much is TMRW Sports worth in 2026?
TMRW Sports, the parent company behind TGL, was valued at nearly $500 million following the close of its Series A funding round, co-led by Dynasty Equity and Connect Ventures. That valuation was based on the league’s strong early momentum, its ESPN broadcast deal, and the projected growth of both the league itself and TMRW Sports’ broader portfolio of technology-driven sports ventures — including WTGL, the upcoming women’s team golf league that is currently in development.
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