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TGL, the indoor team golf league cofounded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is expanding to Detroit for its seventh franchise, majority owned by members of the Hamp family who own the Lions.
Motor City Golf Club will begin playing in 2027, which will be TGL’s third season. Roster and team branding will be announced at a later date.
The expansion team’s ownership group is led by Middle West Partners, which is fronted by Michael and Peter Hamp, sons of Lions principal owner and chair Sheila Ford Hamp (who is also a team investor alongside her husband, Steve), as well as Kevin Kelleher, who also has Detroit roots, according to TGL.
Motor City Golf Club’s ownership group has more NFL ties via Broncos owner Rob Walton, in addition to other minority investors.
The expansion fee was not released, but the Associated Press reported last month that a prospective ownership group interested in a potential Dallas franchise pegged its total investment bid at $77 million.
While none of TGL’s teams play or practice in their home markets since all TGL action takes place at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the makeup of Motor City Golf Club stays in line with franchise ownership groups being largely tied to those cities.
The founding franchises were Atlanta Drive GC, Boston Common Golf, Jupiter Links Golf Club, Los Angeles Golf Club, New York Golf Club, and The Bay Golf Club. Falcons owner Arthur Blank (Atlanta), Fenway Sports Group (Boston), and Mets owner Steve Cohen (New York) are among the most notable franchise heads to date.
Where to Next?
There was speculation that Detroit would get a TGL expansion team after TGL Holdings, LLC, last week filed several applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including Motor City Golf Club, Chicago Links Golf Club, and Texas Golf Club.
But two TGL players who spoke with Front Office Sports last week at the PGA Championship have their eyes on some other markets.
“Toronto would be a great one, too,” said Wyndham Clark, a member of The Bay Golf Club. “There are a bunch of really good Canadian players, and I think it’d be great to branch outside of the U.S.”
Max Homa, who played alongside Woods on Jupiter Links, said he’d like to see another franchise on the West Coast. Homa is from Southern California and now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Something like in Vegas would be awesome,” Homa said. “They’re doing a good job, so I’m just curious—it’s interesting to see what they’ll end up doing to keep us sustainable.”
Return on Investment
Majority and minority owners in TGL teams have spoken glowingly about their investments since the first season ended in March.
LAGC owner Alexis Ohanian previously told FOS he is a big proponent of adding women’s professional golfers to TGL, and he wants to own a women’s TGL team.
Carolyn Tisch Blodgett—one of roughly a dozen minority investors of LAGC who Ohanian said each paid “mid-to-high six figures” for their stakes—echoed the excitement about TGL Season 1.
“While we didn’t know if there was going to be a product market fit, we did know that there was a real consumer need that they were attempting to solve, knowing that participation had risen and the media product wasn’t solving it,” she said on an episode of FOS Portfolio Players. “So, that was kind of our bet.”
Tisch Blodgett is the lead owner of the NWSL team Gotham FC and the daughter of New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, also serving as a strategic advisor for the NFL franchise.
“I would say we’ve been incredibly happy with the performance,” she said of TGL. ”I think the team truly understands what makes good media content.”
