TGL proves it’s here to stay in Year 2

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL — TGL, the tech-infused simulator golf league launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy alongside TMRW Sports in 2025, is one of many nascent pro sports leagues popping up to fill the insatiable appetite of the sports-watching masses. UFL, Unrivaled, LOVB, PWHL, and many others have debuted in recent years to try and capture a sliver of attention from the sports obsessed among us, and cash in on the media rights deals and ad dollars that follow.

There’s reason to believe, however, that TGL is a step ahead of its peers in this regard. In Year 2, TGL has avoided the sophomore slump that many new leagues fall victim to. Instead, despite some less advantageous television windows and a Tiger Woods injury that has kept the superstar founder sidelined for the entire season thus far, TGL viewership has remained steady.

TGL is averaging 508,000 viewers per match through the first eight matches of the season, a tick ahead of its season-long average from 2025 of 498,000 viewers. That figure is down slightly from its first eight matches last season (643,000 viewers), though each of those first eight matches aired on ESPN in primetime compared to just two such matches through the same period this season. Last year also had the benefit of Woods competing in two of those first eight matches. This year, the primetime ESPN schedule is back-loaded, which should bode well for growth on a season-long basis.

Other new leagues have faltered in Year 2. UFL, for instance, saw a 20% decline in viewership during its second season, averaging just 645,000 viewers per game, a significant portion of which aired on two major broadcast networks in ABC and Fox. TGL’s lone broadcast window, this season’s opening match which aired on ABC directly against Week 17 of the NFL season on Sunday afternoon, managed to capture 646,000 viewers despite the massive competition.

Unrivaled has similarly struggled in its second year on TNT Sports. Its opening night games averaged just 175,000 viewers compared to 312,000 viewers during the league’s first year.

So what has made TGL different?

“It’s eye candy,” ESPN’s Matt Barrie, who serves as play-by-play voice of TGL, told Awful Announcing between matches of a doubleheader at SoFi Center on Monday.

That’s for certain. Unlike any of the other new leagues TGL often gets compared to, TGL is a totally different way to watch professional golfers play golf. It’s part sport, part video game. And in Year 2, TGL has leaned into that idea, introducing new holes like “Stinger,” where golfers are forced to keep their tee shot under an overhanging cliff, and “Caverns,” a par-5 set inside a virtual cave where golfers have to avoid stalactites to find the fairway.

It’s something you could only conjure up in a video game, but there is Rory McIlroy, fresh off completing his career grand slam, playing the hole in real life.

“It’s a testament to how unique the product is,” Barrie says. “I’ve been at ESPN for 13 years and I’ve done a lot of really really good things there, but if someone wants to come up and talk to me, they want to talk about TGL. And even I don’t believe that, but it’s true because it’s so different and it’s so unique, and then you have some of the best players in the world attached to it.”

Marty Smith, who serves as an on-turf reporter for the broadcasts, seconded that experience. While preparing to cover last month’s national championship game between Miami and Indiana, a group of young men walked up to him at midfield. They didn’t want to talk to him about Fernando Mendoza or Mark Fletcher Jr., they wanted to talk about TGL.

“It is resonating,” Smith said. “And that’s a college football national championship crowd, that’s not even Augusta or the PGA or wherever. So that tells me a lot. We’re really building something.”

The interest in TGL should portend a strong market for the property at the end of this season, the last of a two-year media rights pact with ESPN. The league and ESPN will have an exclusive negotiating window to reach a new deal following the season, but other networks would likely want to put their hat in the ring as well. Golf Channel in particular, now separated from NBCUniversal and under the Versant umbrella, would be a strong fit for TGL. The Monday and Tuesday weeknight programming would fill a noticeable gap in the network’s schedule.

Rights for WTGL, a women’s version of the simulator golf league set to launch prior to the next LPGA season, are also up for bid. ESPN and Golf Channel will likely be in the mix for those rights as well, though a partner like Scripps’ Ion would also make a lot of sense considering the network’s current commitments to women’s sports.

Expansion into the women’s game isn’t just good news for supporters of equal opportunity. It shows that TGL is here to stay. This is a long-term vision, not a short-term experiment. And observers in the sports business should be paying attention.

Will TGL ever replace the PGA Tour? Of course not. But it should get people to think differently about what the business of sports as entertainment really is.

“All [TGL] has done for me is show the adaptability of everyone to step away from their norm,” Barrie said, noting the upcoming match featuring Los Angeles Golf Club featured three of the top five players in the world on one team. “They’re all here. Why is that? Because they’ve adapted to what this game is running to, which is a younger audience.”

Not every sport will be able to replicate the gamification of TGL. But if the league inspires anything, it should be investment in technical innovation and a confidence that outside-the-box thinking will be rewarded in the marketplace if executed correctly.

At the end of the day, TGL is just a bunch of dudes hitting golf balls into a screen. But over half-a-million viewers are happy to sit down and watch those dudes hit those golf balls. That’s a testament to the creative vision the league has been able to execute. And it might just be a glimpse into what the future of live sports looks like.