Ackerley Sports Group, a sports-focused arm of Seattle-based investment firm Ackerley Partners, is among the backers revealed this week of a new company called TMRW Sports that’s behind a highly anticipated indoor golf league called TGL launching in January.
The company, co-founded by golf legends Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is now valued at $500 million, according to Bloomberg. A bevy of top venture capital firms, pro athletes, and music stars are also backing TMRW.
TGL will feature six teams of PGA Tour stars that will compete in a first-of-its-kind indoor arena. Golfers will hit into giant simulator screens for long shots and play on a rotating physical “GreenZone” for chips and putts.
TGL matches will air on ESPN and already has big-name sponsors including SoFi.
The league has teams from Atlanta, Boston, Florida, Los Angeles, New York, and the Bay Area. They are owned by longtime sports franchise owners such as Steve Cohen and Fenway Sports Group.
Ted Ackerley, who runs Ackerley Sports Group with his brother Chris, told GeekWire he’s bullish about the format of TGL and its primetime spot on ESPN. He also said he hopes Seattle will get its own TGL team in the future.
The Ackerley brothers are part-owners of Seattle’s NHL franchise, the Seattle Kraken, which debuted three years ago and play at the recently opened Climate Pledge Arena. Last year, after launching Ackerley Sports Group, they became owners and partners of Leeds United Football Club, a top English soccer franchise, and earlier this year they backed South Africa’s national rugby group.
Ted and Chris are the sons of the late Barry Ackerley, a Seattle businessman and founder of The Ackerley Group media company, which owned the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics for 18 years. Barry and Ginger Ackerley, his wife, founded the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2000.
Many anticipate the NBA returning to Seattle with the league’s new media deals — which will likely include Seattle tech giant Amazon — set to begin in 2025.