The TGL has a new broadcast TV partner.
SportsNet, the Canadian sports media company owned by telecom giant Rogers Sports Media, announced Tuesday morning that it will broadcast the tech-focused golf league’s tournaments when they begin in early 2025.
The news marks the first major TV rights development for the new sports league since it postponed launch by more than a year after a failed generator caused considerable damage to the league’s host site. The SoFi Center is back on track for a January opening now, league officials say, evidenced by the build-out of rosters and further league developments in recent months.
It has been almost a year since the TGL announced it had secured a broadcast rights agreement with ESPN, granting the league powerful TV exposure on the Worldwide Leader. The TGL’s early-week telecasts will fill in the gap in the sports schedule immediately following the NFL season, and the league hopes to form a viable entertainment alternative to the PGA Tour’s regular season telecasts, not unlike the role the Big3 has played in complementing the NBA.
The tech-focused golf league has been the talk of the golf world since its launch from TMRW Sports, the investment arm formed by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. The league hopes to bring simulator golf to the big stage, giving PGA Tour loyalists a franchise concept that runs counter to the team-based approach offered at LIV.
Still, questions remain about the viability of the league’s entertainment product and its telecasts. Even with the benefit of a handful of superstars and TV rights deals, the league will still have to show it can regularly attract the attention of sports fans who have been increasingly departing from the golf TV world in recent months.
Agreements with ESPN and SportsNet show there is interest from broadcasters, at least on the small scale, to sell advertising around the TGL on TV. That’s a good first step for the league, though the real test will come with the first few batches of ratings reports.
