Originally Published by Time Warner.
WarnerMedia’s Turner division has secured worldwide media distribution rights to “The Match,” a historic head-to-head, 18-hole duel between Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson. The highly anticipated showdown between two golfers who have won a combined 19 Majors will be hosted by MGM Resorts International and held Thanksgiving weekend at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. The winner of this blockbuster pairing, featuring these two legends of the game, will walk away with $9 million.
“The iconic Tiger Woods and five-time Major Champion Phil Mickelson are generational talents who have transcended the game of golf and their rivalry continues to be one of the most compelling in sports,” said David Levy, President of Turner. “This one-of-a-kind, winner-take-all matchup provides a great opportunity to show fans the benefits of AT&T and WarnerMedia coming together. For the first time since AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), Turner, DirecTV and HBO will present a multi-faceted presentation of the live event and accompanying content across a vast array of platforms.”
The Woods-Mickelson live event and accompanying content collectively offering unprecedented access leading up to and during the competition will be distributed across wide-ranging Turner, WarnerMedia and AT&T platforms including:
- Live pay-per-view coverage of the event will be distributed through Turner’s B/R Live, the company’s new premium live sports streaming service, AT&T’s DIRECTV, AT&T U-verse, and will be offered to other on-demand platforms.
- HBO Sports and its groundbreaking 18-time Sports Emmy Award-winning 24/7 reality franchise will capture all the excitement leading up to the match.
- Bleacher Report and its wildly-popular House of Highlights, which recently surpassed 10 million followers on Instagram, will offer comprehensive highlights and behind-the-scenes content.
- Turner’s TNT will also televise programming with select content from the event in the weeks following the live competition.
- Turner International will facilitate distribution of live PPV access to the event outside the U.S.
As part of the live event, both Woods and Mickelson will selectively make side-challenges against one another during the match. For instance, Woods or Mickelson could raise the stakes by challenging the other to a long-drive, closest-to-the-pin or similar competition during a hole as they play their match, with money being donated to the winning golfer’s charity of choice.
Turner Sports will produce all live event coverage while also serving as the exclusive sales and sponsorship partner. Turner Sports and its Turner Ignite Sports will work closely with marketing partners to elevate their brands within this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, tapping into award-winning live events, experiential and creative marketing solutions.
B/R Live, Turner’s new premium live sports streaming service, is available at https://live.bleacherreport.com; by downloading the B/R Live app through iTunes or Google Play; and/or via Apple TV, the Roku platform and Amazon Fire TV.
Pay-per-view pricing for the live event will be announced at a later date. The media rights agreement with Turner was completed in partnership between CAA Sports, Excel Sports and Lagardere Sports.
