🔊 Why This Billionaire Team Owner Is Betting On Women's Golf

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Billionaire team owner Steve Cohen has acquired the New York team in the WTGL, the new women's golf league founded by TMRW Sports.

New York’s WTGL team will be owned and managed by Cohen Private Ventures (CPV), which oversees the family office activities for Cohen and his family.

The New York team is the third to be announced, after teams in Atlanta and Los Angeles were acquired by Arthur Blank and Alexis Ohanian, respectively.

Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures is the league’s lead investor. The group recently announced seven new female athlete investors, including Aryna Sabalenka, Diana Taurasi, Hilary Knight, Breanna Stewart, Nneka Ogwumike, Napheesa Collier, and Gabriela Jaquez.

The WTGL has announced 14 players for its debut season so far, including Lydia Ko, Jeeno Thitikul, and Michelle Wie West, according to Sports Business Journal.

Financial details were not disclosed, though team valuations are reportedly around $20 million each.

Why This Matters

Steve Cohen is quietly assembling a New York-anchored sports empire that cuts across legacy, tech-forward, and women's properties.

And he's doing it while the prices are still reasonable.

The billionaire owner of the New York Mets already holds a stake in PGA TOUR Enterprises and owns TGL's New York Golf Club through Cohen Private Ventures.

But the WTGL acquisition might be the most interesting piece.

Women's golf has always had talent and an audience.

What it hasn't had is institutional capital treating it like an asset.

That shift is happening across all of women’s sports.

The NWSL showed what happens to valuations when strategic capital enters a women's league early.

The WNBA is on the same trajectory.

And now, women's golf is next.

Cohen already has deep ties within the golf ecosystem through TGL and PGA TOUR Enterprises.

For him, this is a strategic, integrated bet with shared infrastructure and networks, and a direct pathway to accelerate WTGL's commercial growth.

With other prominent sports investors in the mix, the league has significant capital and expertise, helping to build an incredible experiential product.

If other women’s leagues are any indication, the WTGL is set to explode over the next couple of years.

And the smart ones are getting in now.

• Edge Markets Raises $29.2M. Edge Markets, an NYC-based financial services company that creates products for alternative financial markets in the gaming, crypto, and prediction-market space, raised $29.2 million in Series A funding. The round was led by CoinFund with participation from Indicator Ventures, Mantis VC, Stepstone Group, and Bullpen Capital. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts (more here).

• Rematch Raises $3.5M. Rematch, a community-powered media platform for grassroots sports, has raised $3.5 million. The funding round was led by Intervalle Capital, Bpifrance, and Rightbear Holding. Rematch plans to use the capital to expand globally, enhance its AI-powered video creation technology, and scale its grassroots sports media infrastructure. The platform enables users to capture and share sports highlights through a global creator community, generating over 1 billion organic views and millions of videos worldwide, and has surpassed $1.2 million in annual revenue since its launch in 2017 (more here).

• Dartle Raises $100K. Dartle, an Indian-based B2B SaaS platform serving youth sports and football academies, has raised a $100K Seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The fresh capital will be used to expand Dartle’s go‑to‑market strategy, accelerate US expansion through strategic growth channels, and strengthen the platform with AI integrations and partner engagement. The company currently serves 14 academies across India, the Middle East, Nepal, and the US, with 8 paid pilots active in the US (more here).

• Sixth Sense Ventures Acquires Minority Stake In InFieldSports Technology. Sixth Sense Ventures, a Mumbai-based venture capital firm, has acquired a minority stake in InFieldSports Technology Pvt. Ltd, a sports presentation technology company. As a part of this deal, Sixth Sense is expected to acquire a 30% stake in the sports tech company. Formerly known as Techfront, InFieldSports was founded in 1996 by Muralidharan Srinivasan. The company provides perimeter systems, ribbon boards, scoreboards, display infrastructure, and software solutions for major sports events worldwide (more here).

One thing before you keep reading.

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They get done quietly, by people who know each other.

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• ATP & TikTok Expand Partnership. ATP Tour has announced the expansion of its content partnership with social media platform TikTok, with the continued aim of growing fan engagement. The partnership began in August 2025, and over the first few months of the tie-up, posts with the #tennis label grew by 25%. This deal has been expanded to cover all nine annual ATP Masters 1000 events and the season-ending ATP Finals, with the ATP looking to maintain a year-round ‘always on’ presence on the platform (more here).

• Liga MX & Polymarket Announce Partnership. Mexican soccer’s top-flight Liga MX has struck a new agreement with prediction-wagers business Polymarket for the US territory, capitalizing on its recent deal with technology firm Genius Sports. Under this new agreement, Polymarket will serve as the official and exclusive prediction market sponsor of Liga MX in the US (more here).

• Sportradar & Kalshi Announce Partnership. Sportradar, the global sports technology firm, has announced a multi-year global partnership with prediction market firm Kalshi. Through the collaboration, Sportradar becomes an official data and solutions provider for Kalshi, delivering a portfolio of premium sports content and services across major sports properties, including MLB, NHL, MLS, and UFC (more here).

• University Of Utah Finalizes Private Equity Deal. The University of Utah and its foundation (University of Utah Growth Capital Partners Foundation) announced that they have finalized their partnership with Otro Capital, a sports-focused private equity firm. The agreement establishes a long-term framework to drive revenue growth, expand commercial opportunities, and strengthen support for Utah Athletics. Crimson Brand Partners, previously known as Utah Brands & Entertainment, will manage commercial operations across Utah Athletics and the broader university, including events at stadiums and arenas, branding, licensing and sponsorships, ticketing, and digital media (more here).

• Big3 Looks To Go Public. Big3, the professional 3-on-3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, announced plans to become the first publicly traded professional sports league in the US through a business combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Graf Global Corp. Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company will be renamed Big3 Basketball Holdings and is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE American, or Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “TONT.” The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 and values BIG3 at $290 million on a pre-money basis (more here).

• Time Launches TIME100 Sports List 2026. Time magazine has released its inaugural TIME100 Sports list, which honors the 100 most influential figures shaping international sports. The list includes athletes, executives, owners, media personalities, and leaders from athletics, business, and digital platforms. The worldwide cover of the TIME100 Sports issue features NBA champion LeBron James. Other influential athletes in the list include Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Stephen Curry, Rory McIlroy, Mikaela Shiffrin, Jannick Sinner, Kimi Antonelli, Shohei Ohtani, and more (more here).

• MLB Players Inc. Launches New Athlete-Powered Players Studio. MLB Players Inc. has launched a new content platform called MLB Players Studio, designed to serve as the umbrella for original programming, talent, and brand partnerships across the players’ organization. MLB Players Studio has tapped content company Portal A to develop and produce a slate of original programming that will be distributed across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok via MLB Players and athlete-owned channels. Portal A’s previous partnerships include Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, and Carmelo Anthony (more here).

• Crux Football Launches Female Athlete Investor Collective. Crux Football, a women's soccer ownership group, has launched the Player Investor Collective, enabling former female athletes to invest in European women's soccer clubs. The initiative aims to empower women who have historically been excluded from ownership roles, and includes former US women’s national team soccer stars Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach, and Leslie Osborne Lewis in its first group of investors (more here).

This week’s guest on the Vetted Sports podcast is Scott Goldman.

Dr. Scott Goldman is the Founder of Athletic Intelligence Quotient (AIQ).

AIQ is an intelligence test that assesses the innate cognitive abilities most utilized in acquiring, developing, and applying athletic skills, strategies, and tactics. The test is being used by Olympic, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, and MLB teams, as well as multiple Power 5 Universities and esports teams.

Dr. Goldman is also a Performance Psychology Consultant for the Golden State Warriors.

In this episode, we discuss:
‣ How AIQ works and its impact on athletes and organizations
‣ The future of AI on athlete intelligence
‣ The long-term vision and goal for AIQ

Check out the full episode here: Apple | Spotify | YouTube