Red Sox Parent Company Takes Ownership Of Boston Team In TGL Golf League

Fenway Sports Group has prominent team ownership stakes in Major League Baseball (the Boston Red Sox), the National Hockey League (Pittsburgh Penguins), and English professional soccer (Liverpool Football Club). Now, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has been announced as one of six founding team owners in TGL, the tech-focused golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that will begin primetime play in January 2024.

The team owned by FSG will represent Boston and the New England region, with an official name and roster of players to be announced later this summer.

“I’m excited about their mission,” Fenway Sports Group co-founder and chairman Tom Werner said of TGL in an interview. “It’s a way for us to be a part of something that’s truly innovative, combining technology and live action in a primetime format. We think it’s going to appeal to not only traditional golf fans but bring in young and new fans. Golf is clearly on the upswing and we want to be a part of it.”

FSG was also part of the initial investor group in TMRW Sports, the parent company of TGL that was co-founded by Woods, McIlroy and former Golf Channel President Mike McCarley.

Now, FSG becomes the league’s second ownership group, with Boston joining a Los Angeles team backed by Seven Seven Six (776) founder Alexis Ohanian, his wife Serena Williams, and her sister Venus Williams.

“We want to have six great business owners to innovate and help us build,” McCarley said. “Tom and the team at Fenway came in as investors early on. Almost immediately, they indicated they’d like to have a team and represent Boston in a way that’s meaningful for sports fans in the area. Whether you’re Red Sox, Patriots or Celtics fans, there’s a thinking that you put a group of golfers together that represent Boston and that fan base, there’s going to be a strong attraction for that team. With their track records as terrific operators and history of success in other leagues, this came together as a natural part of that process.”

McCarley said TGL expects to announce the other four ownership groups over the next month or so.

The TGL Boston team will play five regular season matches on Monday nights, competing against the other five teams in a custom built, indoor arena in Palm Beach, Florida. Instead of a traditional, green grass golf course, the three-player teams of PGA Tour pros will compete on a data-rich virtual course – hitting into something closer to the size of an IMAX screen than a typical simulator – and then moving to a state-of-the-art short game complex for chipping, pitching and putting.

Players will be mic’d up for the 2-hour live broadcasts, with between 1,500 and 2,000 fans sitting close to the action.

“I think all of us in Boston remember The Country Club, the (1999) Ryder Cup and people getting so close to the action,” said Werner, who has been playing golf since he was a teenager. “This will create an atmosphere like when you sit courtside at an NBA game and that level of excitement.”

Twelve of the 18 golfers committed to play in TGL have already been announced, a group headlined by Woods and McIlroy. Other participants include Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, and Rickie Fowler.

“Tribalism is such a core element of every sport. In golf, you really only get that every couple of years with events like the Ryder Cup,” McCarley said. “We want this to be like putting a dome over the first tee at the Ryder Cup.”

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