Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy welcome Mets owner Steve Cohen to TGL, as billionaire Serena Williams follows and buys the League’s fourth team
- Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s virtual golf league kicks off in January
- Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Alexis Ohanian also own a team in LA
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen has bought the fourth team in TGL, a golf league supported by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that will start 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 lead this unnamed team.
TMRW Sports, a company founded by Woods, McIlroy and media executive Mike McCarley, founded TGL.
“We are excited to partner with TMRW Sports and represent New York as a founding member of TGL,” Cohen said in a statement Thursday. “As golf continues to grow in popularity, there is a demand for improved access to the sport and the best players in the world.
“TGL’s primetime schedule offers a fast-paced, innovative up-close look at the sport that will appeal to traditional golf enthusiasts and new fans alike. We are thrilled to be part of TGL and build a team that New York is proud of.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen has bought a New York-based golf team that will compete in TGL
The competition is supported by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, seen at Augusta National in April
Andrew B. Cohen, who is unrelated 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 Monday primetime,” said Andrew B. Cohen, 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 of those elements.”
Financial details of the deal have not been released.
According to a report from Sportico, all six teams in TGL will have a 3 percent stake in the league, while also engaging in league-wide revenue sharing.
TGL is a virtual league, with each team having three PGA Tour players. These teams will compete against each other in an 18-hole match play. The regular season will consist of fifteen two-hour games before the semi-finals, with a final held to wrap up the campaign.
Serena Williams, Alexis Ohanian (both above) and Venus Williams own the league’s LA team
All games will be played in a building currently under construction on the Florida campus of Palm Beach State College.
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, led by Arthur Blank, will oversee the Atlanta franchise.
“We obviously want to be in the right media markets, and in the right areas where fan bases can support their team and the natural rivalry that exists between fans in other sports,” McCarley said.
“That points you to some of these big markets. So it was a factor, but not the only factor. The quality of the ownership group is also very important.’