From the gridiron and hardwood to the tee box, the latest iteration of The Match was headlined by the championship-winning duos of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce from the Kansas City Chiefs against Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors. With a birdie on the 10^th hole of the 12-hole scramble format, Mahomes and Kelce claimed victory.

Excel has served as the event organizer for all eight iterations of The Match, elevating the franchise into must-see-TV with unprecedented access to some of the biggest names in sports at iconic golf venues. The Wynn Golf Club played host to The Match for the third time and once again provided a scenic backdrop and brought the heat! The star-studded field was accompanied by a stellar broadcast lineup. Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley hosted the event, Draymond Green and Von Miller joined as special contributors, alongside Excel clients Trevor Immelman as an analyst and Kathryn Tappen as an on-course reporter. Green also hosted the Hot Seat Press Conference on Bleacher Report social channels and the B/R app before the event.

One of the proudest additions to this event is building in the charitable component. This year’s donations benefited the “No Kid Hungry” campaign, and fans contributed by bidding on custom-made golf carts. Challengers also helped increase the total donated through “Challenge Holes”. Prior to this event, The Match had raised over $35 million for multiple organizations and donated over 27 million meals to Feeding America.

When The Match first started to come to life in 2018, we identified an opportunity to play an integral role in bringing some of the biggest names in sports to the links for a fun, yet competitive, head-to-head competition between two legendary golfers. At first, the primary purpose of this event was to provide entertainment, with the winner taking home a lucrative cash prize. Since then, the field has expanded to feature more contestants of All-Stars, Hall of Famers, and champions across multiple sports.

In May 2020, our Golf Events and Hospitality team collaborated to build The Match: Champions for Charity, where $20 million was raised for COVID-19 relief efforts. At the time, this was the most watched golf telecast in cable television history with an average of 5.8 million viewers tuning into TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN. A few months later, in November, that record was broken when The Match: Champions for Change took place. Once again using its platform to help give back to the community, this iteration of The Match raised over $6.4 million for 20 different Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). Through Feeding America, four million meals were donated to help combat food insecurity during the pandemic.

A tip of the cap and a golf clap for our Golf Events and Hospitality teams for taking this event to the next level with each exhibition.