July 14, 2026
Versant Media Group’s acquisition of Full Swing advances its digital media progress and sports activities know-how technique.
Versant Media Group, Inc. introduced on July 6 an settlement to amass sports activities know-how agency Full Swing from non-public fairness agency Bruin Capital for about $530 million in money.
The transaction broadens Versant’s presence in sports activities leisure. The corporate owns main golf properties like Golf Channel, GolfNow, and GolfPass. In line with a company press launch, the acquisition permits Versant to combine Full Swing’s simulation software program, launch screens, and efficiency information into its digital media and tv choices.
This transfer helps CEO Mark Lazarus’s method to diversifying income as cable TV subscriptions decline. Whereas linear networks generate most of Versant’s income, Lazarus famous the corporate’s golf phase is evenly cut up between tv and digital media.
The acquisition illustrates the industrial affect of 15-time main champion Tiger Woods. Woods turned an early investor and associate in Full Swing in 2015, providing technical steering for product improvement, in keeping with ESPN and Entrance Workplace Sports activities. His involvement helped validate Full Swing’s KIT Launch Monitor, which tracks 16 membership and ball metrics.
Woods’ fairness stake in Full Swing is a outstanding instance of Black illustration within the rising sports activities know-how sector. Past its cultural significance, this illustration provides enterprise worth by serving to Full Swing and Versant Media Group increase their attraction towards various markets and fan bases. Organizations with seen range in possession and management are extra seemingly to attract a broader vary of expertise and companions, fueling creativity and dependability.
Traditionally underrepresented in government, possession, and know-how roles inside golf, African American athletes and entrepreneurs are more and more utilizing fairness partnerships to construct sustainable wealth past lively competitors. Business advocates notice that high-profile investments like Woods’ present a industrial mannequin for minoritized communities searching for alternatives in sports activities information, {hardware} manufacturing, and digital athletic platforms.
Full Swing is the official licensed simulator of the PGA Tour and a know-how associate of the golf league TGL. Bruin Capital beforehand acquired a controlling stake in Full Swing for $160 million, in keeping with Sportico.
“Full Swing is precisely the form of strategic platform that displays how we’re constructing Versant,” Lazarus mentioned in a press release, noting that the deal extends the corporate’s core markets into extra interactive, related shopper areas.
The transaction is topic to straightforward closing circumstances and is anticipated to shut within the second half of 2026. After completion, preliminary integration steps will align Full Swing’s know-how and product groups with Versant’s digital frameworks. They can even streamline shared information techniques and launch joint advertising initiatives throughout each corporations’ manufacturers. Full Swing CEO Ryan Dotters will report back to Will McIntosh, Versant’s president of digital merchandise and ventures. Further milestones, such because the rollout of latest simulator content material and enhanced cross-platform options, are anticipated after a proper integration evaluation. Gibson Dunn served as authorized advisor to Versant, whereas Moelis & Firm LLC and Kirkland & Ellis LLP suggested Bruin Capital.
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