Woods And McIlroy’s TMRW Sports Welcomes Curry, Ohtani, Romo And Timberlake As Investors

TMRW Sports made a big splash from the start, co-founded by two of the biggest names in professional sports in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

The company, which in August announced a new tech-infused golf league (TGL) in partnership with the PGA TOUR, has now unveiled an equally impressive and accomplished roster of athletes in its strategic investor group – from Stephen Curry, Josh Allen and Shohei Ohtani to Tony Romo, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Sidney Crosby. The deep and diverse group of initial investors spans not only sports, but entertainment (Justin Timberlake). Also represented are technology, media and finance, providing significant reach, relevance and influence for a company that’s seeking to reshape how sports are experienced in the future.

Pronounced “tomorrow,” TMRW is focused on building progressive approaches to sports, media and entertainment. And as evidenced by the investor lineup, there’s significant buy-in, quite literally, from all corners of the sports world. While the institutional investment was co-led by Connect Ventures and 25madison Ventures, the investment group’s sports experience includes team ownership from every major U.S. sports league and, in addition to golf, spans F1, the NFL, NBA, PremierPINC
League, MLB, NHL, MLS, tennis esports. In total, the combined social media reach is almost 500 million followers across Twitter and Instagram.

“We have a definite point of view of the group we wanted to assemble and we spent the better part of the year being very intentional about that approach,” said TMRW co-founder and CEO Mike McCarley, a longtime NBC Sports executive and former Golf Channel president.

“In a lot of ways, once it started to build on itself you feel like you’re the GM of a major league club – like the Lakers or the Yankees – and it becomes easier and easier to recruit people because they start inviting people they think would also be a strategic fit. We really wanted a group that was going to lean in and help us build a long-term business. We ended up with just these absolute legends of Wall Street, sports business, media, technology, and that’s before you get to the really big names.”

As McCarley notes, the social media following of TMRW’s cultural icon investors is noteworthy, but the group also has a demonstrated track record of investing in tech businesses, especially those on the intersection of sports and technology.

“It also happens that a few of them have a real passion for the game of golf, which is our first project and partnership, with the PGA TOUR,” McCarley said, referencing TGL, which will kick off its inaugural season in 2024 with Monday night primetime team competitions involving Woods and McIlroy in custom-built, tech-infused venues. “So, there was a lot of general acknowledgment of where technology, sports and culture are headed. And there are ways in which they’re going to come together in truly unique environments and applications. That’s the thesis around what we’re building with TMRW Sports.”

Terms of the initial investment round weren’t disclosed, but with more than 50 prominent individual names and 10 institutions involved, it’s safe to suggest it’s a significant sum. Following is the run-down of TMRW Sports’ initial investors:

SPORTS / CULTURE INVESTORS

F1

• Alex Albon: Williams Racing (THA/GBR)
• Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes-AMG Petronas, 7-time World Champion (GBR)
• Lando Norris: McLaren (GBR)
• Carlos Sainz: Scuderia Ferrari (ESP)
• Mark Webber: ret., Channel 4 (AUS)

NFL

• Josh Allen: Buffalo Bills (USA)
• Kelvin Beachum: Arizona Cardinals (USA)
• Larry Fitzgerald: Arizona Cardinals ret., (USA)
• Tony Romo: Dallas Cowboys ret., CBS Sports (USA)

Entertainment

1. Justin Timberlake: 10-time Grammy Award, 4-time Emmy Award winner (USA)

Tennis

• Andy Murray: 3-time Grand Slam Singles Champion, 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist (GBR)
• Serena Williams: 23-time Grand Slam Singles Champion, 4-time Olympic Medalist, ret. (USA)

Gaming

• Tyler “Ninja” Blevins: professional gamer and entertainment personality (USA)

NBA/WNBA

• Stephen Curry: Golden State Warriors, 4-time NBA Champion, 2x NBA MVP (USA)
• Andre Iguodala: Golden State Warriors, 4-time NBA Champion (USA)
• Chris Paul: Phoenix Suns (USA)
• Jayson Tatum: Boston Celtics (USA)
• Diana Taurasi: Phoenix Mercury (USA)

Soccer

• Jozy Altidore: Liga MX, Puebla (USA)
• Gareth Bale: MLS, Los Angeles FC (GBR)
• Servando Carrasco: MLS, ret. (USA)
• Alex Morgan: NWLS, San Diego Wave FC, 2-time World Cup Champion (USA)

MLB

• Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels (JPNJPN
  )
• Trea Turner: Los Angeles Dodgers, World Series Champion (USA)

NHL

• Sidney Crosby: Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-time Stanley Cup Champion (CAN)

Surfing

• Kanoa Igarashi: World Surf League, Olympic Silver Medalist (USA/JPN)

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS

• 25madison
• AMBSE Ventures
• Apex Capital
• Connect Ventures
• Copper
• Excel Sports Management
• Misfits Gaming Group
• Newbound Venture Capital
• SCSC
  Holdings
• Seven Seven Six
• Symphony Ventures
• TGR Ventures

BUSINESS LEADER INVESTORS

Sports

• Arthur Blank: Owner, Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United; Co-Founder, The Home Depot and PGA TOUR Superstores
• David Blitzer: Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment: Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and Newark’s Prudential Center; Owner, Real Salt Lake; Minority Owner, Cleveland Guardians
• John Collins: Board Director, Super Group Ltd. Former CEO, On Location Experiences; COO, NHL; President and CEO, Cleveland Browns; and senior marketing, sales and programming executive, NFL
• Eric Grubman: Chairman of Super Group Ltd. and DroneUp; former senior executive, NFL, Goldman Sachs, ConstellationDAG
  Energy Group, and On Location Experiences
• John Henry: Principal Owner, Fenway Sports Group
• Dawn Hudson: Board Director, Interpublic GroupIPG
  and NVIDIANVDA
  DIA
  . Former CMO, NFL; President and CEO, Pepsi-Cola North America; and Chairman of the Board, LPGA Tour
• Steve Nash: Former NBA MVP; Head Coach, Brooklyn Nets; Co-Founder, BLOCK
• Tom Penn: Founding President and Co-Owner, Los Angeles Football Club; Co-Founder, Sports Leadership Institute, former senior executive, NBA
• Kevin Warren: Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference; former COO, Minnesota Vikings
• Tom Werner: Chairman, Fenway Sports Group
• Mark Wilf: Co-Owner of the Minnesota Vikings, Orlando City Soccer Club, and Orlando Pride

Finance:

• K. Don Cornwell: Co-Founder and CEO, Dynasty Equity
• John S. Daly: former Chairman Global Equity Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs
• Jimmy Dunne: Vice Chairman and Senior Managing Principal, Piper Sandler; President, Seminole Golf Club
• Cam Dyer: Former Partner and Sector Co-Head of Global TMT Investing, The Carlyle GroupCG
  
• David Gubbay: Senior Managing Director, Highpost Capital
• Philippe Laffont: Founder, Coatue Management