Tomorrow is here

The GIST: After months of consideration, Tomorrow Golf League (TGL) is teaming up with the LPGA to launch the WTGL, a virtual offseason golf league featuring LPGA athletes. When announcing the league on ESPN’s SportsCenter, LPGA star Lexi Thompson said WTGL “brings in a whole different fan base” than traditional golf does.

• Thompson’s observation hints that the WTGL will attract new, avid fans exclusively through non-traditional women’s golf. And considering the both LPGA and TGL audiences skew younger and more digitally-savvy than the PGA’s, this could be a unique intersection for brands to reach one of sport’s most coveted demos. Reaching their core audience.

The context: While women’s golf participation is on the rise, both tours historically have a predominantly male audience. While exact viewership breakdowns by gender are unknown, the LPGA says its audience share of women fans ranks high among professional sports leagues.

• Both the LPGA and TGL are resonating with younger audiences. While the average PGA fan is in their 60s, 60% of LPGA fans are under 45 — a number more akin to TGL’s audience, which has explicitly said it’s winning over new golf fans in the sport’s post-COVID boom.

• In its inaugural season, about 42% of TGL’s TV audience was aged 18 to 49, one of the highest shares among major sports and stronger than the PGA’s share. Social audiences skewed even younger: 84% of Instagram followers were under age 45, while 70% of TikTok followers were in the same demo.

The landscape: There are several ways startup leagues are capitalizing on golf outside of classic pro tours to win over young, digital native audiences. There’s creator-driven leagues prioritizing entertainment like Good Good Golf, par-3 leagues open to all, and TGL’s shortened, tech-powered format. However, these leagues remain predominantly male, so the WTGL differs by intentionally cultivating space for women to engage in a non-traditional format. Love to see it.

Bottom line: To win over younger demographics, new golf formats are the way to go — and expanding such formats in women’s golf may be able to uniquely win over these audiences. Women’s sports fans skew younger and are more digitally-savvy, something TGL is relying on for its audience as a challenger to traditional golf.

• That’s why brands who want to meet these audiences should show up for WTGL. This should become a league where women golfers can be more front-facing and personality-forward than ever, so brand darlings from Lottie Woad to Nelly Korda can shine more fully. All teed up.

🖐️ Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the time to invest in women’s sports is now. That’s why Chase is now a founding partner of League One Volleyball (LOVB), the powerhouse program that supports gals on the court from youth leagues to the pros.

• Chase is committed to empowering athletes beyond the court — providing tools, guidance and mentorship that help them navigate their financial futures with confidence. After all, that gendered wealth gap won’t close itself.

🤝 You deserve better basketball coverage. That’s why we’re popping into your inbox every Friday during the Unrivaled season to break down everything that makes this fast-paced league so electric.

• What can you expect? So glad you asked: We’ll recap clutch performances, chronicle the game’s brightest stars, and preview the league’s spiciest showdowns all season long.

💌 Consider it your weekly run-down of women’s hoops brilliance, perfectly timed before every weekend of action. Opt in now — your new fave read is waiting.

Men’s leagues have had generations to become institutions…women’s leagues, including women’s lacrosse, are only now getting the structure, investment, and stability they’ve long deserved. Women’s lacrosse has lived through stops, starts, and fragmented opportunities. This past year? Everything shifted.

That’s the engine behind She’s Not Next, She’s Now — The GIST of It’s eight-part deep dive into emerging women’s sports rewriting the playbook in real time.

In episode six, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Lauren Tuiskula turn to women’s lacrosse, unpacking how the sport is evolving from a star-driven, college-centric ecosystem to one finally carving out clearer professional pathways.

• We dig into the huge role the NCAA pipeline plays, and how new investment and infrastructure is shifting that storyline.

And we spoke with the folks shaping the change: former NCAA superstar and current Boston Guard standout Charlotte North, Premier Lacrosse League and Women’s Lacrosse League VP of Lacrosse Rachael DeCecco, and former Yale standout and U.S. Lacrosse board member Fielding Jamieson.

This episode is about a sport that’s always had elite talent and massive participation, and is finally getting the scaffolding, visibility, and pro opportunity to match.