Scott Van Pelt will be among the ESPN voices used to bring TGL to life on ESPN.
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Golf’s new most technical league is slowly coming online.
TGL, a simulator golf league led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, announced its first broadcast team Thursday morning, highlighting the group of television and digital media professionals who will rise to the challenge of bringing the league first of its kind on ESPN in January.
Beloved golf TV voice Scott Van Pelt will lead the proceedings for TGL, serving as the “host” of the broadcast. Van Pelt will add TGL to his existing ESPN golf portfolio, which includes the Masters and PGA Championship, though his role for TGL will resemble his role for ESPN Monday Night Football coverage. Van Pelt will host his pregame and intermission coverage Sports Center studio in Washington, DC, a role that will also include several player interviews.
Once the action begins, Van Pelt will hand over broadcasting duties to a pair of other Masters and PGA Championship TV voices, Matt Barrie AND Marty Smithwho will serve as ESPN’s play-by-play and sideline reporters, respectively. The league has said its broadcasts will aim to provide unprecedented access to the league’s players, including an open microphone line between those broadcasting the action and those competing within it. That means interesting things for both Barrie and Smith, who will talk to teams in real time as the action unfolds.
On the digital side, my GOLF.com colleague Claire Rogers will join NESN Red Sox sideline reporter Jahmai Webster as host of TGL’s second-screen efforts on ESPN+, taking viewers behind the scenes of life at TGL. Roger Steele, another well-known golf creator, will handle emcee duties.
The announcement marks the latest major step towards bringing TGL to life after its inaugural season was delayed by a generator failure last December. The league, which includes six franchises and 24 PGA Tour players, will bring golf to primetime audiences on Monday and Tuesday nights in the winter months. A custom-built facility called the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Fla. will host each of the TGL competitions, featuring players competing on a giant simulator screen on virtual golf courses created exclusively for the league. (If you have more questions about the league’s competitive model, you can check out video explainer on the TGL YouTube page.)
Of course, TGL’s broader push is to provide a television product that golf fans will want to watch every week, allowing the league to make money from selling its television rights. The league has no shortage of institutional backing, counting the PGA Tour, the billionaire sports magnates behind Strategic Sports Group and corporate partners like Genesis and SoFi among its partners in addition to Woods and McIlroy. The hope is that the new league will attract younger golf fans, including those in cities with increased exposure to simulator golf, giving Woods a platform to play competitively as his PGA Tour career moves forward. more part time.
