WTGL INTERVIEW

February 2, 2026

Arthur Blank

Q. I'm here with the owner of Atlanta Drive and the first owner of a WTGL team, Arthur Blank. So excited to be chatting with you. What drove you to invest in the WTGL?

ARTHUR BLANK: Well, number one, we've had great success with TGL itself, and as long as the momentum behind women's sports really across the United States, if not the world then certainly across the United States in whether it be basketball or whether it be golf or whether it be soccer -- we just announced the WSL, a new franchise. So WTGL is a perfect fit for us.

Golf itself for women is moving exactly in the right direction. Post-COVID, golf and women are up by close to 50 percent, the biggest increase in any demographic, which is unbelievable. Women today represent almost 28 percent of the rounds of golf played, which is great.

The other factor, which is that women are participating in simulation golf, et cetera, at close to 50 percent of all the participants who play simulation golf.

There's so many reasons why we're excited about it. An opportunity to showcase these LPGA world-class athletes and just a fun environment for America and beyond America to see it, as well. Currently TGL is in 152 countries. Hopefully WTGL will be the same way.

Q. How would you assess the opportunities for growth in women's sports, particularly in golf?

ARTHUR BLANK: Well, I think women's sports -- the last five years, the investment side, the viewership side, sponsorship side, all of that has grown tremendously in women's sports, and for all the right reasons, mostly because the games themselves are participated in at a very high level, so I'm excited about that.

Women are a driving force today in golf, and I think to have their own league is a great statement. Eventually there will probably be some mixed matches, as well. I want to thank Mike McCarley, who's the CEO. Been chatting with Mike and been chatting with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

We had a great first year in the TGL, won the championship, and we'll be competing next year with WTGL next winter, and we've already got seven or eight great athletes signed up, ready to go, and we're going to get together our team along with other teams. So it was great to be No. 1.

Q. What excites you most about Atlanta's incoming WTGL team?

ARTHUR BLANK: What excites me most, I think, is the opportunity in this environment to showcase these athletes, to potentially bring another championship to Atlanta. We'd love to do that. We had great fun last year with all the athletes and they had a lot of fun. Fans loved it. America loved it. The viewership is extraordinary; ESPN loved it. Golf is in a very good place in America today, the best place it's really been since the Tiger era. We're competing tonight against Tiger, so I can't be too (indiscernible).

But anyway, we could not be more excited about the opportunity.