The Match: Champions for Charity Brings Golf, NFL Together in Fight Against COVID-19
As the sports world continues to be shuttered at this stage in the calendar with return dates for many leagues still up in the air and being bandied about, there have been a few bright lights in the darkness. We’ve heard about potential returns for NASCAR and the PGA Tour as hopes to see things back to normal in light of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to run through everyone’s mind. We do have an interesting twist in the sports world as players of two different sports will team up and square off to play in a match, with proceeds going to coronavirus relief.
Tiger Woods will team up with Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning to face off with Phil Mickelson and former Patriots and current Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady in a contest that is tentatively titled “The Match: Champions for Charity” and is being presented by Turner Sports. The match is going to be televised on TNT and is expected to take place next month if all goes well. There are still several roadblocks to navigate through and deal with in order to come up with a final date at this point in time.
There has yet to be a location finalized but according to reports, the expectation is that it would take place in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis has already stated that he would support the event taking place in the Sunshine State, which had 28,832 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 979 deaths as of Thursday morning. The PGA Tour has not signed off on the event as of yet, and their approval is needed for any sort of event that involves their players where television and/or streaming is involved. When asked for comment, the response was that the tour “is still working to ensure health and safety concerns, among other things.''
According to Manning, this was something that had been in the works for a while, according to his words on 104.3 The Fan in Denver Wednesday:
"There was talks about doing it all along anyway. And now, to have a chance to have a major fundraising event for COVID-19 relief, almost like a telethon, if you will ... If that can take place, I'm all-in for that."
On paper, you can’t find a better marquee matchup from either side of the pairings to try and draw interest. Woods and Mickelson are two of the best-known players on the PGA Tour and they have had plenty of success in their respective careers. Mickelson has 44 career PGA wins, including five major championships, while Woods has 81 career victories with 15 of those coming in majors. When you look at what Brady and Manning have done on the gridiron, it’s tough to think of a more celebrated pair of quarterbacks in league history. They’ve combined to win eight Super Bowls, eight MVP awards, 1080 touchdown passes in the regular season and racked up 405 regular season victories plus 44 playoff wins on their respective ledgers.
One has to think that this one could be a boost all-around when you get right down to it. Television would be a winner as TNT would get live sports programming to broadcast, potentially on Memorial Day weekend. Fans are used to seeing the NBA and NHL playoffs during that weekend, along with MLB regular season action. The Indy 500 tends to run that weekend, adding more to the sports world. Without those events going, it would be a huge potential ratings victory. In addition, it brings the potential for relief funds being raised in the battle against COVID-19. On top of that, how can you go wrong with two pairs of the biggest names in their respective sports in a time where sports programming is at its nadir?
Here’s hoping that this all gets figured out and comes to fruition. It would be a boost on multiple levels and give sports fans something to be interested in from the betting front.