The dream of a Tiger Woods-led golf league playing by January in front of ESPN cameras under a massive air-filled dome

in Palm Beach Gardens got tossed to the wind last week by the twin hits of a temporary power outage and a wicked, windy Wednesday.

The rush to complete construction of the 1,500-seat arena in time for the new indoor TMRW Golf League, or TGL, to tee off on Jan. 9 now looks impossible to meet.

The white, parachute-like canopy that covered the 120,000-square-foot arena deflated Tuesday night

after “an overnight failure to the temporary power system,” TMRW Sports Group said in a statement Wednesday.

Once deflated, the canopy became fodder for the pounding of persistent rains and 50 mph wind gusts. It now lies ripped to shreds, exposing support beams on the far-from-finished site.

League officials said Wednesday it was too early to tell what impact it would have on construction deadlines, a statement they didn’t update after the rains ended on Thursday.

But neighbors report near 24-hour-a-day construction since the Feb. 21 groundbreaking to get the site ready for the first event.

The dome went up nearly overnight in October on 10 acres at the Palm Beach State College campus off of PGA Boulevard, but it’s unlikely that league organizers ordered a backup canopy that they can simply unfurl over the framing to get back on track. The white canopy covers 3 acres and reaches a height of 75 feet.

And without a roof, electronics to simulate golf shots on a 46-by-64-foot screen can’t be installed. Likewise, the three pivoting, changeable putting greens and the broadcast compound undoubtedly will be delayed.

The sport turns on a three-on-three team competition, pairing simulated long shots with actual short shots. Among golfers to sign up: Woods and ownership partner Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose.

Initial announcements of an arena seating 2,000 have been reduced, with the arena offering space for 1,500 fans and 100 staff and players. But the real audience is expected on ESPN, which signed on to broadcast the weekly Monday night matches live.

No city say over college campus

One of the keys to meeting the tight construction timetable is that construction on state college campuses doesn’t have to go through city or county zoning and permitting approvals — even for profit-making tenants.

TMRW (pronounced Tomorrow) Sports Group, headed by Woods, McIlroy and golf TV executive Mike McCarley, worked with the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County to identify the 10-acre site, home to a little-used ball field. They said they considered other Palm Beach County sites as well as sites in Las Vegas.

Palm Beach State College agreed in November 2022 to lease the site to TMRW’s parent, NexGen Sports Group Inc., for promises of internships, student training opportunities and publicity through events and social media. Not referenced in the lease was a $1 million gift to the college’s foundation, delivered at the groundbreaking.

“Our goal is to be here forever,” Tom Veit, senior vice president of venue and events for TMRW Sports and a former head of global events for the WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment, told PBSC trustees. “The building itself has 30 years of useful life.”

The lease covers five years with two optional five-year extensions.

Veit also told trustees the arena would have its own power source because “the amount of data we’re going to use will probably power a small city.”

TMRW partner Mike McCarley, a former executive with NBC Sports Group and former president of the NBC Golf Channel, said his conversations with Woods predated the golf great’s crippling Feb. 23, 2021, car crash.

When he learned Woods wanted to move forward with the golf league, he said other golfers including McIlroy pointed out that the less intensive approach to golf would prolong Wood’s’ career.

“Maybe there are kids who didn’t get to see him play in his prime who will be able to get to see him play now,” McCarley said.

The discussion did not touch on NexGen making a monetary rent payment.

City sought answers

Despite having no regulatory authority, Palm Beach Gardens officials pointed out in a May 12 memo that the city had unanswered traffic, safety and security concerns, including what would happen if the power went out and the dome deflated.

The college responded in writing on June 6. On Oct. 18, college, TMRW/Nexgen officials and the city met, going over details and promising future meetings to continue to hash out police and fire safety concerns.

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Source: Los Angeles Times