Major celebrities are jumping into a new sports venture created by golf champions Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Key Details
- Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are developing a sports tech company called TMRW Sports Group, which will launch its own virtual golf league in the next two years in partnership with PGA.
- The pair announced on Wednesday that several major celebrities, athletes, and entertainers as investors had joined the venture—including tennis player Serena Williams and singer Justin Timberlake.
- More than 50 high-profile investors have already announced that they are attached to the company, Axios reports.
- The new virtual league will launch its inaugural season in January 2024 with both golfers competing.
- “Meet our initial investor group, a roster of icons across sports and entertainment matched with business titans—headlined by Stephen Curry, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Morgan, Andy Murray, Ninja, Chris Paul, Shohei Ohtani, Tony Romo, Justin Timberlake, and Serena Williams,” says TMRW (pronounced tomorrow).
Why it’s News
TMRW Sports Group’s approach to tech-focused sports has drawn it a great deal of positive attention. The approval of so many major celebrities speaks to the opportunity and buzz surrounding the project.
“We wanted a group of people who have a vision for how technology can help make sports more accessible and culturally relevant and attract new and different groups of fans—and that’s ultimately younger fans and families,” says TMRW CEO Mike McCarley.
“McCarley said the company sought investors who were passionate about golf and would represent a diversity of expertise and backgrounds in media and entertainment,” says CNBC.
Backing up a Bit
McIlroy is no stranger to sports technology investments, having made some major investments in companies that rival some of the largest names in golf for competition.
“The intersection of golf and technology has been fertile ground for investors recently. McIlroy himself invested $10 million last year in Drive Shack, a Topgolf competitor—as the latter has continued growing rapidly. Puttshack, a tech-infused mini-golf experience from Topgolf’s founders, received $150 million in growth capital from BlackRock last month,” says Axios.
Notable Quote
“TMRW Sports’ first project is its TGL golf league, which was launched in partnership with the PGA Tour this summer and comes as professional golf is being disrupted by the arrival of upstart league LIV Golf. TMRW Sports is looking to draw in younger sports fans with a format that makes the golf league more compatible with prime-time television,” says CNBC.
