By the People, For the People: ETC x Peoples League Partnership
The Peoples League is the first official league for competitive creator golf, designed specifically for a new era of digital fandom. By pairing an F1-style franchise model with a combined reach of 25 million-plus, it’s a format where renowned personalities and measurable competition drive a season-wide narrative. This is why Event Tickets Center (ETC) teamed up with Peoples League as the Championship rolled out on YouTube, positioning the series as a live-entertainment moment with real stakes and a clear finish line.
The Championship Blueprint: Competition Meets Entertainment
The Championship played out over two days at Lake of Isles at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, with eight teams battling through a team-based format across four rounds of nine-hole matches for a $100,000 prize.
It also delivered quite the “you had to see it” turning point: Sam Heung Min recorded a hole-in-one during play, winning The Grint’s Hole Out Challenge and creating one of the most viral highlights of the year.
The New Icons of the Fairway: Creators' Influence
Ja Rule, Victor Cruz, Jenna Bandy, Claire Hogle, and Luke Kwon represent the creator-first identity Peoples League is building, where the audience already knows the players’ voices before the first tee shot. The Championship’s featured talent list also included names like Malosi, DOD King, Martin Borgmeier, Tisha Alyn, The Pointer Brothers, and Troy Mullins, reinforcing the league’s mix of competitive golf and creator entertainment.
That creator influence is essential to the league’s larger proof-of-concept. There was massive debut-season engagement, including 50 million impressions, 15 million YouTube views, 100,000 watch hours, 1 million engagements, and 30 million creator reach. It was the fastest-growing new golf channel on YouTube in 2025.
Event Tickets Center Joins the Peoples League Revolution
ETC’s partnership with the Peoples League is rooted in the same shift that has powered creator sports as a category: fans are building genuine loyalty in digital spaces, and they want the option to experience big moments live. Event Tickets Center’s involvement reinforces its focus on supporting modern, fan-driven live entertainment.
Bridging the Gap Between URL and IRL
Peoples League is engineered to move fan energy from online fandom to real-world moments, using a format that keeps audiences invested week to week. That bridge is baked into the model: teams, franchises, and a season-long arc. The Championship is a clean example of that shift: high-pressure, team-based rounds, a defined prize, and moments like the hole-in-one that blend content and competition.
What a Screen Can’t Capture
Creator sports can go viral in seconds, but the screen can’t fully replicate the tension of “real pressure, real stakes” when players are competing for their teams. Peoples League CEO and co-founder Jared Augustine described the Championship intensity in exactly those terms, pointing to the event as evidence of what creator golf can become when it is treated like true competition.
That’s the lane Peoples League is carving out: golf that keeps the entertainment value, but raises the competitive floor so the experience feels like more than an exhibition.
Turning Content into Memories
Peoples League already knows how to win attention online, but the Championship is built to hold it. Making the four-part Championship series a marquee release is what turns highlights into something fans can actually track and talk about together.
ETC helps that shift happen by backing the Championship as presenting partner and giving the league room to treat the finale like a real tentpole moment.
12 Teams, 4 Majors: The Road to the 2026 Peoples League!
The next step is already mapped: the Peoples League Tour is launching in 2026, expanding the roster from eight to 12 teams and building the season around four major events.
Event Tickets Center’s involvement signals that the league’s biggest moments are being supported like live tentpole events. The calendar starts fast: the 2026 Tour is slated to open March 9–11 at Whirlwind Golf Club and Gila River Resorts & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass.