Topgolf CEO: 50 Markets By End Of 2019, IPO Under Consideration

Topgolf Executive Chair Erik Anderson was the featured interview at the Octagon Sports Marketing Symposium Tuesday and said the company hopes to be in 50 markets by year’s end with aggressive plans to expand stand-alone and other off-shoot versions of Topgolf.

Eric Fisher from SportsBusinessDaily reports and includes this:

Roughly half of Topgolf clientele were not initially active golfers, though play at their facilities has translated to some increases in play at traditional courses. Roughly half are aged 18-34, a highly coveted demo by every other sports property. “The big idea for us was take out a lot of the barriers of golf, such as around time, cost and skill, and make it about fun and community,” Anderson said.

And this on a possible looming IPO is of note:

Anderson said Topgolf is considering an IPO for the company, but did not provide specifics around the likelihood of that or a potential timetable for a decision. “We are a candidate to go public for sure. It would be silly to say otherwise. ... We’re probably an interesting public company, like Starbucks was given how people connect with us.”

SBD posted a couple of snippets of Anderson’s conversation.

Of course there was a “subscription” and a Netflix mention, but you’re not a good CEO if you aren’t tossing the millennials and those who want to pick their pockets the preferred candies of the day.

Here is Anderson on golf needing more shortened pay-as-many-as-you-play options (“mini subscriptions”):

On the companies Topgolf says you should be on the look out for. No big surprises here…