TGL announces Atlanta team as third to join league

ATLANTA — TGL, the new tech-forward, primetime, team golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports in partnership with the PGA TOUR, has announced the formation of the third of six team ownership groups with Arthur M. Blank. His TGL team, representing Atlanta, will be part of his AMB Sports and Entertainment (AMBSE) portfolio, alongside the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS’ Atlanta United, and compete in TGL’s first season launching in January 2024. The announcement was made today by Blank and Mike McCarley, CEO, TMRW Sports and TGL.

“One of the missions of our golf business is to help grow the game and all of AMBSE is oriented toward representing Atlanta as best we can on and off the fields we compete on,” said Blank. “We are thrilled to partner with TMRW Sports and be a founding owner in TGL. I see this as an investment to grow the game, deliver an innovative product to avid fans while exposing golf to new, younger audiences, and another way for us to compete for championships for Atlanta. We will put our best foot forward in effort to achieve all three goals and to help TGL achieve success in any way we can.”

As one of Atlanta’s most prominent business icons, Blank's Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United compete in Mercedes-Benz Stadium that AMBSE also operates. The foundation of Blank’s business success was co-founding The Home Depot in Atlanta and helping make it one of the world’s largest and most successful retailers. In addition to his AMBSE team and stadium assets, Blank and his team own and operate PGA TOUR Superstore, the largest specialty golf retail chain in the world, which CEO Dick Sullivan and President Jill Spiegel have led to unprecedented growth through an aggressive, ongoing expansion plan. The breathtaking growth of PGA TOUR Superstore since Blank’s acquisition in 2010 now makes it the largest golf specialty retailer in the world.

With TGL’s prior announcements of Los Angeles Golf Club; led by Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and Venus Williams; and TGL Boston, led by Fenway Sports Group; TGL’s team owners’ portfolios of teams currently spans the NFL, MLB, NHL, Premier League, NASCAR, MLS and NWSL.

“Arthur Blank is known as one of the best consumer-focused American businessmen of the last half-century. His history of building valuable enterprises, beginning with The Home Depot, and extending to the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, PGA TOUR Superstore and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, is well-documented. His philanthropic endeavors, especially in the Atlanta community, speak volumes about him as a person. He is highly regarded among sports owners as a tremendous business partner and we are honored to have him join TGL as one of our original six team owners,” said McCarley.

“He has been a stalwart supporter of golf at every level and has been engaged throughout much of TMRW Sports’ journey to develop TGL. His expertise in building not only great sports teams, but also strong organizations with his successful business enterprises, is the type of leadership we appreciate and welcome to TGL.”

Blank, who has been cited in recent years by Forbes as one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds and by Sports Business Journal as Sports Executive of the Year, has used the same customer-focused approach that built The Home Depot to establish his current businesses as leaders in their respective sectors. The Atlanta Falcons ranked No. 1 in the NFL’s Voice of the Fan rankings for 2022; Atlanta United has paced Major League Soccer in attendance since its inception; Mercedes-Benz Stadium has racked up numerous honors since opening in 2017, most recently becoming the first stadium in the world to achieve True Zero Waste certification in January of 2023.

“Atlanta and the surrounding areas are home to some of the biggest golf tournaments in the world and tens of thousands of golfers, so we are proud to have this golf-rich part of the country represented in the original TGL ownership group,” said Dick Sullivan, CEO of PGA TOUR Superstore who will oversee operations of AMBSE’s entry in TGL.

“All of Arthur’s businesses are driven by a passion for delivering excellence and a competitive spirit that is built on a best-or-nothing philosophy. Our Core Values are central to everything we do and our participation in TGL certainly fits with a goal of innovating continuously to the betterment of the businesses we operate in. And like all our businesses, we will build a robust philanthropic platform with our TGL team that fits our overall investment strategy for golf and cannot wait to start building a team our city and state will be very proud of in all areas.”

TGL is an innovative primetime golf league that fuses technology and live action with teams of PGA TOUR stars competing in a purpose-built arena in Palm Beach, Florida, across a season of matches starting in January 2024. Technology is a foundational element of TGL, offering fans a cutting-edge, shorter format presentation of team golf, featuring some of the PGA TOUR’s biggest stars. Currently, 12 players committed to playing in TGL have been announced: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Billy Horschel and Rickie Fowler.

How it works: TGL

• Teams: Six teams of three PGA TOUR players in head-to-head, match play.
• Tech-forward venue: A first-of-its-kind experience for golf enabled by a data-rich, virtual course paired with a tech-infused, short-game complex.
• Tech-enabled fan experience: High-energy, greenside fan experience with every shot live within a two-hour, primetime televised match.
• Season: 15 regular season matches followed by semifinals and finals matches.