The PGA Tour joined just about every major North American sports league with a Hyperice connection.
Hyperice became the official recovery device for the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions as part of a multiyear partnership announced Oct. 21. The deal follows similar partnerships Hyperice has landed with the NBA, NWHL, MLB and UFC in recent months. The NFL and NBA also invested in the recovery tech company as part of a $48 million round of funding announced on Oct. 8.
“When our player relations team heard we were talking to Hyperice, they were ecstatic,” PGA Tour executive Brian Oliver told Front Office Sports. “They know what our guys would like. They knew they already used the products. They also knew how quickly they’d incorporate them into their regimens.”
Golfer Rickie Fowler, who invested in the company previously, was also announced as brand ambassador.
“With fitness and body maintenance being a huge trend amongst us pros — especially during the time off at home — I love that the PGA Tour has chosen the best in the business to share the importance of proper recovery to players, trainers and future generations of pros,” Fowler said in a statement.
Brands linking up with sports leagues in new categories gained momentum as new revenue streams have been sought out as the pandemic has hammered the bottom line. Oliver, however, said this deal with Hyperice isn’t one of them; talks began last year with NormaTec, a brand Hyperice acquired in March.
“Once that happened we started a conversation with Hyperice,” said Oliver, PGA Tour’s executive vice president of corporate partnerships. “This one absolutely would have happened regardless of the pandemic. It’s core to what our athletes do and it’s core to how they perform. As a membership organization, we are always looking to get our athletes the tools to be successful.”
And there will be plenty of tools — Hyperice’s most popular product, the Hypervolt massager — to go around. Every golfer on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour will get a Hypervolt with distribution starting at this weekend’s Zozo Championship in Lake Sherwood, Calif.
In addition to the league’s investment, San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatís Jr. is joining the company as an investor and ambassador — the first MLB player to do so.
One way this deal differs from other league partnerships is the visibility of Hyperice products via PGA Tour Active, a digital platform that showcases the workouts and lifestyles of pro golfers.
“Over the years, you’ve witnessed that they’re avid, world-class athletes and you’ve seen some of their fitness routines,” Oliver said. “They need to [train] to perform their best. PGA Tour Active is designed to give our fans access to some of that content. Hyperice is the first product to be featured on PGA Tour Active, but we are in discussions with a number of other [brands] to partner with in the same vein.”
[Editor’s note: SC.Holdings, which participated in Hyperice’s last funding round, is an investor in Front Office Sports.]
