Tiger Woods of the USA and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland walk to the eleventh fairway during a practice round prior to the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 03, 2023 in Augusta, Georgia.Â
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Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s indoor golf league, TGL, has postponed its inaugural season by a yr until the beginning of 2025, the organization said Monday.
The choice comes after the roof of the brand new arena slated to host TGL matches collapsed last week. The league said the ability system used during construction of the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida failed, causing a dome structure to deflate.
The accident didn’t cause injuries or damage the league’s golf simulators and other technology, TGL said. But TGL delayed the season, which was expected to start out in January, after talking to key partners.
“This decision got here after reviewing short-term solutions, potential construction timelines, player schedules, and the primetime sports television calendar,” the league said in an announcement. “We’re confident that the extension will only improve our delivery.”
TGL, which counts the PGA Tour as a partner, was founded by McIlroy, Woods and former NBC executive Mike McCarthy. The trio desires to create a primetime indoor golf league to draw recent fans to the game at because the emergence of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, after which its proposed merger with the PGA Tour, left golf at a crossroads.
Woods was optimistic concerning the league’s future despite the delayed launch.
“Although the events of last week will force us to make adjustments to our timelines, I’m fully confident that this idea will likely be dropped at life by our great committed players,” Woods said in an announcement Monday.
TGL has drawn a few of the very best golfers on the planet as a part of its lineup. It’s unclear how the brand new timeline could affect player participation.
The league has also attracted quite a lot of high-profile team owners and investors including hedge funder Steve Cohen, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Fenway Sports Group, tech founder Alexis Ohanian and tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams. Other investors within the league include basketball great Stephen Curry, race automotive driver Lewis Hamilton, women’s soccer player Alex Morgan, singer Justin Timberlake and pro football’s Tony Romo and Josh Allen.
TGL signed a multi-year media rights take care of ESPN in October to broadcast its events.
ESPN said it fully supports the choice to postpone the 2024 season.
“We’ve believed in them and their vision from the start, and that has not modified. The extra time to plan, test and rehearse will only make it higher, said Rosalyn Durant, executive vice chairman, programming and acquisitions at ESPN.
