In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, ESPN acquired U.S. media rights for TGL, the golf league founded by TMRW Sports, a company started by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mike McCarley. The league features six teams of top players from the PGA TOUR competing on Mondays and Tuesdays from SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. As part of a multiyear partnership, the new sports entity is going to be broadcast in prime time television starting early next year, necessitating a slate of broadcasters to present the action.
Throughout the year, viewers will be able to see every shot live on linear television (ESPN or ESPN2), along with the ESPN+ app. The first seven matches of the TGL season will air on ESPN and 16 of them will be in the prime time viewership slot as well. The inaugural season of the league commences on Tuesday, Jan. 7 and concludes towards the end of March, ending with a best-of-three Finals series.
Scott Van Pelt will host pre-match and intermission segments for prime time matches from the SportsCenter studio where he broadcasts in Washington, D.C. Working remotely, he will start the broadcast and also conduct interviews with athletes during play and after the match. Van Pelt has deft experience working in golf coverage, covering the sport for over three decades and serving as the primary host for coverage of the Masters and PGA Championship. Outside of his golf ventures, he is the host of Monday Night Countdown, the weekly SVPod podcast and monthly edition of Bad Beats based on his midnight edition of SportsCenter.
Matt Barrie will work as the play-by-play announcer for TGL, anchoring the coverage from the broadcast booth located at SoFi Stadium. Barrie and his colleagues in the broadcast booth will be able to communicate directly with teams and contribute to shot-by-shot strategy. Barrie has hosted SportsCenter from the Masters and PGA Championship, along with calling featured groups and hole coverage on the course. Additionally, he is the co-anchor for the 2 p.m. EST weekday version of SportsCenter and also calls Thursday night college football games on the network. Barrie is also the host of popular studio programs such as College Football Scoreboard and College Football Final.
Marty Smith, a longtime reporter at ESPN, will serve the role for its coverage of TGL live from SoFi Center. As part of his position, he will have access to team benches and speak with golfers during the match to glean real-time insights towards gameplay. Smith is the host of Marty and McGee on the SEC Network and ESPN Radio, traveling the country during the college football season to campuses around the Southeastern Conference. Akin to his colleagues, Smith has worked on the Masters and PGA Championship broadcasts since 2017.
“Scott, Matt, and Marty have years of experience working together on ESPN’s annual coverage of the Masters and PGA Championship, as well as on SportsCenter and other programming,” Mike McQuade, executive vice president of sports production at ESPN, said in a statement. “They will make a strong team and we’re looking forward to the debut on January 7.”
The league blends golf with technology by utilizing several elements within play to blur the lines between virtual and real-life play. Teams will hit their shots from boxes featuring either grass or sand into a 3,400-square-foot screen. When the teams are inside 50 yards of the hole, they will move to the 22,475-square-foot green using advanced technology to rotate its shape on every hole. Matches will utilize a shot clock, thus forcing teams to make their stroke within 40 seconds, along with advanced audio capabilities, shot data and in-venue lighting and video presentation. Fifteen holes on the course were created by venerated golf course designers and are inspired by realistic golf elements and landscapes.
“We appreciate ESPN’s level of commitment to TGL,” Mike McCarley, founder of TMRW Sports, said in a statement. “SVP, Matt, and Marty bring recognizable star-power from the sports they cover regularly and are familiar to golf fans from ESPN’s coverage of the majors. Plus, their relationships with the top players in the sport will help create a refreshing, fun prime time experience for fans.”
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