37. Is TGL a Sport or a Show? A Look at the Innovative New Golf League

37. Is TGL a Sport or a Show? A Look at the Innovative New Golf League

Summary

Episode 37 - In this episode of the Farrell Sports Business podcast, the host Matt Farrell dives into the Tomorrow Golf League (TGL), a new golf format co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. He explores whether TGL is a sport or a show, discussing its innovative approach, the vibe of the competition, player dynamics, and the pace of play. And it takes a look if TGL has some influences from World Long Driver and former Golf Channel exec Mike McCarley. Farrell emphasizes the importance of entertainment in golf and the potential for TGL to evolve, while also addressing the inclusion of women in the league and the expectations surrounding its future.

About the Farrell Sports Business Podcast

Interviews with news makers from sports business to talk leadership, entrepreneurship, industry news and their unique career paths. Hosted by Matt Farrell, President of Farrell Sports and former Golf Channel, USOPC, USA Swimming and Warner Bros.

Watch it on YouTube - www.youtube.com/@farrellsportsww

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Matt Farrell (00:00)

Is TGL golf a sport or is it a show? I love this topic with TGL being new this week. We're going to dive into this on the Farrell Sports Business Podcast. Welcome everyone. I'm the host, Matt Farrell, and we're talking the Tomorrow Golf League or TGL. I was founded by Tiger and Rory and former golf channel exec, Mike McCarley. And I'll get to this a little bit later, but it really has some influences of world long drive.

in TGL and I'll get to that during the, during the course of the show, but it made its debut as you would expect golf social media had its feedback, some good, some harsh. will tell you upfront that I am generally on board. I will tune in, because I do think it's very innovative, not perfect, but very innovative and I'm here for it.

We're going to talk to the vibe, the competition, the future, and its prediction on what it might influence with other sports. So on this week's Farrell sports business podcast, we're talking TGL.

Welcome everybody to a fun topic that had golf social media in a, in a buzz all week after the debut of TGL on ESPN.

I came into it with an open mindset. I left more positive than negative. I'm also just really aware that this is a Tuesday night during the winter.

And it's not trying to take the place of a Saturday or a Sunday or even a Thursday or a Friday during the heart of the golf season. Um, it is what it is. It's not replacing a PGA tour event. I view it kind of like the match or other special events like that. So my overall take is give it time, judge the whole body of the work, not just the first chapter. but really this goes back to some time that I actually spent at golf channel.

And we're programming something for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights was really a challenge beyond, repeat programming. Every golf tournament in the world is Thursday through Sunday. So it leaves those obvious gaps in the schedule of what do you do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night? So this is a strategy that was really being talked about in the late teens, you know, 2018 and after, certainly during the time I was at the golf channel.

And it's just come out bigger and more elaborate than maybe any of us ever dreamed, especially with Tiger and Rory be involved. But this is a, this is a spot that golf channel wants to, get into, or I should say the sport of golf in general, since this was on ESPN, but start to move into other spaces. We see the NFL do that. Certainly moving into any open crevice on the schedule that it might be able to.

you know, slide into, and I don't see anything wrong with golf trying to get into an area of the calendar and certainly of the season that's not filled by golf and create something new and unique. So I think this sport is made for sports betting and it had almost a million viewers, 919,000 viewers. It peaked at 1.1 million during the course of it. It didn't help that the first

round was a bit of a blowout and that made it harder to, to stay engaged. But overall, I great start and I want to jump into various elements about TGL.

in general, but it starts with a little bit of setup because the building and the setup itself is just so impressive. It's a 250,000 square foot building. Unfortunately, it was about a year late because of a storm in Florida in November of 23 caused a roof collapse. But the screen itself, you know, we're used to

launch monitors or simulator screenings being, I don't know, 12 feet wide, 10 feet high, something like that. And this is 64 feet high, 53 wide. The rotating green is 3,800 square feet. The technology behind this is from Full Swing. The short game area, including the green, is about 22,000 square feet.

And the green has just about 30 different combinations of contour, if you will, or three different tiers. And what they call actuators, they almost look like pistons in a car in a way. But the 600 actuators control the undulations of the green. So you get a mix, and you're not always seeing the same green and the same reeds over and over again.

Team competitions was six teams and it's in partnership with the PGA Tour. So week one was on ESPN and I would say it's really tough to judge totally on social media because sometimes the loudest voices went out. But I'd say generally by and large positively received. That does not mean it was all positive. A lot of people who just didn't like it, a lot of people who just prefer green golf, which is fine.

or green grass golf, but it just really brought out the, brought out the energy and the emotions in the golf community.

So the vibe, the vibe of the event and starting with with the players and we just saw the first sample of more players to come. Everybody wants to see Tiger. I get it. Schedule didn't set up for him to participate in week one, but he's participating early in the series of events. He's one of the creators along with Rory McIlroy

I'm actually okay with it not having Tiger in the first week. Tiger is certainly a needle mover. He's a driver than in anything that he does. But the success of this concept can't be based on Tiger. So everybody wants to see him in week one, but I think it's actually okay that he wasn't in the first week because you do have to introduce...

not some of the golfers because we know who those golfers are, but you have to introduce some of the personalities that we're just not used to seeing as much. And it has to work with or without Tiger to be sustainable in the long term.

As for some of the players, I liked it. was a good, it was a good start. got Shane Lowry, who was fun. Rickie Fowler. just always appreciate how candid he is on when he answers questions. Xander Schauffle was into it. But just watching the players have fun. That just made it a little more contagious. Okay. Is it the intensity of a major or even the intensity of a

you know, even any given week PGA tour event or even a LIV golf event, not yet, but if they're enjoying it and having fun, that becomes contagious. The first week was a blowout. You just got to get over that. that will take, take care of itself over time, but I've had some very fun matches that I've played in myself that were worth dollar skins that you get competitive on. And so I, I don't think it's

purely goofy golf. I don't think it's purely silly golf. I think you will see the competitive fire come out You know, the person I point to all the time is look at what Bryson DeChambeau does on his YouTube channel. You know, hitting golf balls over his house to try to hit a hole in one, trying to break a certain score with, you know, random, you know, people or celebrities or other golfers.

or trying to break a course record at a public course. Okay, that's just fun. Does it make him any less competitive? Okay, maybe not as much as the US Open, but he's able to have fun, make it a show, and still have some competitive fire in there. So I don't think they're mutually exclusive. Just the blowout didn't help things to get started. So I do think you're going to see that.

things that Bryson does on YouTube, it's clearly a show, but we're still vested in the results. And I think TGL will get there on that.

The player dialogue. This is some of the most common comments that I see on social media like golfers are boring. don't, you know, they, they, they, they don't know how to interact. And I think it's just putting them in a situation that they're not used to. As soon as you tell people, Hey, start talking trash, start talking smack. It immediately makes it awkward and forced. If you yell at somebody, relax, show your personality.

that actually creates pressure too and just brings a stiffness. I think it will come out. It's just not a comfortable environment yet. They want to play well first and foremost. And once they get the balance of that and the comfort of their surroundings, I do think you'll start to see personalities come out more. You know, the match, things like that.

You know, that that takes some time to build up how you're going to interact where you're trying to think about your game, but you're also trying to think about it being entertaining. Phil Mickelson, you know, love him or hate him. He's really good at it and he gets it. It's just a natural part of his personality. I just think you're going to have to be patient as we let these people learn of what's expected of them from a performance standpoint, both playing and and dialogue.

Bryson's the model and it doesn't change overnight. I'm gonna reference World Long Drive several times. When I worked at Golf Channel, I was involved in Oversaw, the World Long Drive program. And we talked to the players and the athletes all the time about it, you know, about being a showman. And some people are great at their craft, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're great entertainers. And you have to find those people who find the mix.

And my level of comfort with talking to my teammates, yucking it up is going to be very different than anybody else. But that was a very concerted effort of World Long Drive. And I think it will be a very concerted effort of TGL of just gaining that comfort level of that split and creating that balance of show versus sport.

the hype of the event. This really ties back to the previous comment. And what I see just over and over again is comments on social media, which I do not agree with, that it's like, this is just like LIV or drawing live comparisons. And I don't think that's really the case. some people saw the loud music, the hyped up intros,

and said that's a direct ripoff of Liv. There's some similarities for sure, but I really think that goes back more to World Long Drive, which was doing that way before Liv came along. And so I don't know that the World Long Drive world is actually getting enough credit for how some of the showmanship that was influenced, that came from World Long Drive is leaking its way into TGL.

So now remember Mike McCarley, who was the head of Golf Channel, he was instrumental in bringing World Long Drive into the Golf Channel world. Art Sellinger a longtime legend in World Long Drive created the property and then Golf Channel purchased it and brought it in. And so Golf Channel really leaned in to the fact that it was different. It was not your traditional golf. It was very loud and

the hitters in that sport and the athletes hitting golf balls really embraced that. They got it. And so drawing the comparison to live right or right or wrong, I think there are some similarities, but really the roots of the inspiration, I think for a lot of TGL is world long drive and Mike McCarley's time at golf channel that was starting to formulate that property.

It does raise the question is a casual atmosphere and competitiveness at, at odds. is it a show? Is it a sport? We used to have that conversation at world long drive quite a bit as well. at the end of the day, you wanted to be grounded in a legitimate, authentic competition. Cause if you don't have that, you really don't have anything. but it did lean toward creating a show.

as much of a show as an American Ninja Warrior or something like that. No, I don't think so. But it's grounded in competition that is legitimate. And I think TGL will find that balance as well.

Now the competition itself, if there's anything that's getting a majority of positive reviews, it's really the pace of play itself. Most people, including myself, loved the shot clock. It was not walking off yardage. There were fewer practice swings, faster decision making, and it just moved at a great clip.

I found that this just moved at a good clip and people just jumped in there, hit their shot and moved on. And so the pace of play, I think if you want to give an A or an A plus to anything, as, as a part of that.

first show for TGL, it had to be the pace. It just moved at a good clip. You know, Rick, this was somewhat tongue in cheek, but Rickie Fowler was asked at a press conference after he's like, Is there anything in TGL from a rule standpoint that you would love to see on the PGA Tour? And he immediately said the shot clock. And everybody laughed and had fun. So he was probably being partly serious. I don't know that the PGA Tour is ever going to go to a pure shot clock that's going to play a

heartbeat sound to hit your shot. But pace of play is probably the number one issue just in terms of watchability on golf in general or playing with your group on Saturday. And TGL seemed to really have that figured out of just really keeping a nice quick pace to things.

The team concept of, you know, the Bay Club in New York and, you know, Boston coming, coming up. I do feel that's a little bit forced right now. Maybe I'll change my view over time. Honestly, I feel like the team concept that I inherently love in concept, even feels a little bit forced in the LIV world.

Unless it's your country or unless it's an established franchise like you see in other sports, other professional sports, maybe it'll grow on me, but it just feels a little bit forced with TGL. I get it. I like the team concept. I would rather watch that format in in in a team environment. I think it does bring out the conversation and the, and the personalities more.

But they all have their own brand deals. They all have their own manufacturers. And yes, they were matching colors. But I think that team concept needs to come out a little bit more. And maybe it will over time.

I'll be patient just in terms of the actual players. I do think some of the live players would add a lot to us to this, especially Phil Mickelson, Bryson, John Rahm. I think it needs it. I know it's a partnership with the PGA tour. That's a greater conversation in the, in the golf world. And I think, and hope that that gets lined out, but this type of a format would benefit from some of those players and their personalities being added to it.

So for me personally, I'm really excited in future weeks to see Max Homa involved, Kevin Kisner involved. Those are the right type of personalities. I would love to see a Joel Dahmen involved.

One of the other big questions that's going to come out on this is women. How's the LPGA going to get involved? It doesn't seem like it's going to be in the first season, but I think this is something they should talk about and just say when it's coming. A lot of people on social media, including myself, are just sitting there wondering, I wonder if the LPGA players are going to play, whether, you know, with with just LPGA players or or mixed in.

but it seems to be one of the elephants in the room that at least needs to be addressed and manage expectations of when it's going to come.

And I think the LPGA players are actually just going to be a natural for this one.

The big question in all of this is, is it a show or is it a sport? I think it has elements of a sport and you're going to find that competitiveness and that competitive fire come out. But at the end of the day, it's a show. and I've heard, I've seen some comments on social of like, it's not golf.

You know, do you like arena football? It's different. Still football. Do you like three on three basketball? It's different, but still basketball. It's just in a different form. And, you know, maybe other comparisons are certainly the match, the American century, celebrity event, you know, those type of things have a competitive element. They tend to lean towards show

I get that some people will prefer traditional PGA tournaments, PGA tour tournaments, live tournaments, majors. I get that. I'm probably still in that camp as well. But to shut it down and say it's not golf, I don't think it's totally fair.

And another point is just about overall expectations of TGL. This is week one. You have to put your product out there. I give them a lot of credit for innovating. And in this case, I can't believe I'm actually saying this because I there's a it draws a comparison to me of Tom Brady starting broadcasting. I've never been a Patriots fan.

quite honestly, I'm not a huge Tom Brady fan. And to see him come into broadcasting and the media and the pressure and the eyeballs on that, There was an expectation of Tom Brady to be perfect on game one. And I'm not one to defend Tom Brady.

But in this case, I was like, that's not fair. That's not a fair expectation of someone to come into a completely new environment and, and own it and be perfect or even great, in the first go. Now you could argue, okay, you know, Tom Brady playing, playing football to go into the broadcast booth. Those are two very different. These guys are golfers and they're still playing golf. I get that, but the expectation in the environment is so different that it's

in many ways it's like learning something new. So I think you just got to give it a little bit of time.

And with that, I think you'll find them striking the balance of sport versus show. I'm okay if this leans a little bit more toward a show. I think whether there's $1 on the line or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and especially when you turn on a TV camera, people's competitive nature will come out. I don't think you have to force that. So

I just want to be entertained. I want to have fun. want to get a different look at golf. I want the announcers to be unique and have a different fun expectation or take on things. I mean, I wouldn't mind John Daly being in the booth for something like this. If we're going to be different, let's own it and be different. And so I think that bringing different voices to this,

is just going to help bring out the character and some of the really great conversations and behind the scenes peek at who these players are and how they think.

You know, with that said, Marty Smith, I just can't picture him anywhere other than an SEC football game personally. I'll just have to get out of that mindset of I just still see him as a product of the South and SEC football. And so I'll try to practice what I preach and keep an open mind there. Matt Berry, that was fine.

I would put him in the more traditional camp and probably, you know, a bit more of a traffic cop job in this to keep things going and interact with the players and then actually sit back and let some of the players dialogue take over itself. So they'll get there. I get it.

My ultimate prediction long term is I would bet you anything that there are some league offices that are sitting around going, how can we adapt skills competition and integrate with technology in a different way? I don't know this for a fact, but I think there are other sports that you could look at. Okay, football looking, could there be quarterback skills challenges? You know, in hockey, could there be different challenges?

much like they do at the All-Star Games for some of these. In some ways, it feels like we're going back to the 70s and Battle of the Network Stars. And if you're young enough to not remember that, Google it. It's some classic, classic television from some of our younger days. But I do think you're going to start to see the women get involved from a TGL perspective. And I think you're going to see other leagues look at themselves

differently and think how can we recreate ourselves into some other entertainment based programming that mixes sport and the show.

So TGL, I'm going to give it a chance. I applaud the innovation of it. It takes a lot to put yourself out there and be open to the risks and the criticism of, of being innovative. So I give them a lot of credit for that. And I, for one, I'm just going to keep tuning in and let it evolve and, get better and improve over time.

The ultimate answer for me is it's more of a show than a sport, but it's still grounded in some true authentic competition to make it fun. And that's okay. So my plan is to stay open to it, accept it for what it is. Count me in.