TGL, TMRW Sports see future of league, other projects

Rickie Fowler of New York Golf Club plays a shot on the 13th hole in the TGL’s opening match on January 7.getty pictures

TGL made its long-awaited debut last week in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and while it’s easy to focus on the current season, which ends at the end of March, a bigger vision for the league and its parent company, TMRW Sports, ready.

Expansion, new venues, new sports? They are all on the list of potentials for Mike McCarley, co-founder of TMRW Sports with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

“We live in a world where everything that’s ever been produced is available to see. So how are you supposed to cut through when someone has a choice between everything?” McCarley said from a second-floor suite at the SoFi Center, just hours before the league’s debut.

It is not short-sighted to believe that success could bring future expansion to more venues. Golf hotbeds in Las Vegas, Scottsdale and Southern California are all seen as viable options. In fact, TMRW officials already visited the site in 2024.

TGL founders Rory McIlroy, Mike McCarley and Tiger Woods are already considering expansion, including into other sports.getty pictures

The Ford family (Detroit Lions), the Wilf family (Minnesota Vikings) and John Bitove, founder of the Toronto Raptors, were all in town to check out the SoFi Center, the league’s 250,000-square-foot venue, on TGL’s opening night.

Expansion beyond the six current teams would mean more players. Only PGA Tour players can compete, but would the TGL be open to LIV players participating, should there be a provision to that effect in an agreement between the tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund?

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Two LIV players – Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton – were set to compete in the TGL before joining LIV ahead of the 2024 season.

“I know it’s interesting, and I know everybody’s talking about it, and I know it’s fun to kind of pontificate about what could or couldn’t be, but we have a job to do,” said McCarley, who estimates he spends 5-10 percent of his time on projects beyond Season 1 of TGL. “We have to deliver a really compelling product.”

However, McCarley didn’t back down when asked if TGL had a list of potential LIV players in mind.

“Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely,” McCarley laughed. “But the reality is we have a good business in what we have right now.”

Shane Lowry of Bay Golf Club uses the digital caddy to research how he wants to play the next hole.getty pictures

Golf is not the only focus of TMRW. While TGL is its first project, McCarley has said from the beginning that it won’t be its only one.

“Are there sports that have really global big stars that you can lean into and just recreate or rethink and do it with the biggest stars in the world? That’s the key,” McCarley said.

MORE: TGL crowd beats ESPN expectations in Week 1

McCarley would not delve into specifics. These details may be found at home on his bedside table, where he said he routinely wakes up in the middle of the night to jot down new ideas.

“We’ve had almost every sport launched from around the world, but there are some that I think are more interesting. … To me, it’s just that you look at it and dig into it and say, ‘OK, if I could change this, if I changed it, what would it potentially be?'” he said.

Asked for a timetable for projects beyond TGL, McCarley said ideally within five years. TGL broke ground on the SoFi Center less than two years ago.

TMRW’s staff now numbers 80, split between South Florida and TMRW’s headquarters in Winter Park.