Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to launch new sports league with NFL
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and their TMRW Sports venture are set to partner with the NFL to launch a flag football league in the US by 2028.
TMRW Sports, which boasts a galaxy of star investors from sport, entertainment and high finance, has been selected to operate the flag football project, according to multiple reports in the US.
Woods, McIlroy and media executive Mike McCarley founded TMRW Sports in 2022 to launch its made-for-TV golf league TGL, which debuted last year. It recently announced a women’s version, WTGL, which is due to begin this year.
Big-hitting investors in TMRW Sports include serial team owners John Henry, of Liverpool FC parent company Fenway Sports Group, and Crystal Palace shareholder David Blitzer, Fanatics founder Michael Rubin and former Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei.
The company also had dozens of celebrity backers, including Gareth Bale, Lewis Hamilton, and Andy Murray, NBA legends Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Shaquille O’Neal, and music artists Justin Bieber, DJ Khaled and Justin Timberlake.
What is the NFL’s flag football league?
Flag football is a safer variant of American football in which players make tackles by pulling flags off their opponents’ hips rather than with crunching collisions.
It is set to be part of the LA 2028 Olympic programme and the NFL, which has committed $32m to funding the league, wants it to launch before the Games.
“We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in one year, and the league is moving forward,” said NFL Chief Spokesman Brian McCarthy.
“We’ve been heartened by the immense interest in the marketplace, and the NFL is committed to investing in the infrastructure and partnerships to grow flag football globally and deliver a premier professional league.”
The NFL has not confirmed that it has selected TMRW Sports but it follows months of speculation that Woods and McIlroy’s side project, which also produced last year’s Skins Game on Amazon Prime, was among the frontrunners