There’s been a lot of chatter since Atlanta Drive G.C. took home the inaugural SoFi Cup about how golf should measure the success of TGL’s first season. Reports suggest that both ESPN and the TGL itself are thrilled with the ratings, which regularly outperformed the studio programming that would have occupied similar timeslots. Others, meanwhile, believe that a league with a $50-million single-purpose arena should have to surpass professional pickleball and cornhole to be deemed a success.

Perhaps the most definitive indication of TGL’s early fortunes, however, isn’t found in the league’s short history but instead it’s medium-term future. On Tuesday, the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson published a report on the tech golf league, which will now go on ice for nine months. Within was a fascinating detail that may finally quiet the TGL skeptics. Here’s what Ferguson had to say:

“Expansion is a strong possibility. One group already is planning to bid for a franchise in Dallas and has put the total investment at $77 million.”

That may not look like much in comparison to the Boston Celtics’ recent $6.1-billion sale or the enormous $11-billion price tag hanging in the Dallas Cowboys’ window, but for a team that employs just four athletes playing an absolute maximum of 18 hours of golf over the course of an entire season, $77 million is an eye-popping sum.

Mike McCarley, the co-founder of TMRW Sports alongside Tiger Woods and Rory McIlory, told Ferguson that’s far from the only expansion interest the league has fielded either. According to McCarley, there was a “ton of interest” over the course of the season, including one ownership group that attended every single match of TGL’s debut season.

Though expansion is clearly on the docket, perhaps as soon as next season, McCarley said that the original six teams will remain intact with minimal roster changes, if any. That’s good news for TGL’s early investors and certainly Atlanta Drive fans … Jupiter Links die-hards, not so much.

Main Image: Carmen Mandato/TGL