When existing creator golf tournaments no longer reflected the scale, stakes, or authenticity of the creator economy, two of the largest digital sports media companies came together to build their own. Barstool Sports and Fore Play, in partnership with Doing Things and Bob Does Sports, launched the Internet Invitational, redefining the game of golf in a digital-first era.
The goal of the Internet Invitational was to blend high-stakes competitive golf with reality TV-style storytelling, transforming a single-event competition into a binge-worthy six-episode series designed for sustained engagement. By distributing episodes free on YouTube and amplifying moments across social platforms, the Internet Invitational gave fans unprecedented access to talent and a look behind the scenes of the heated competition. Fans could also participate in a live-streamed finale, introducing real-time interaction and appointment viewing to a creator-first sports property.
A Golf Tournament By Creators, For Creators.
For the first time, a creator-led golf event was produced with broadcast-level structure, clear competitive rules, and a seven-figure prize - all without relying on traditional TV networks or legacy golf organizations.
Barstool Sports & Fore Play and Doing Things & Bob Does Sports launched the inaugural Internet Invitational, a golf tournament that united 48 top digital creators at Big Cedar Lodge in August 2025. The event generated massive engagement across six episodes, showcasing a successful new format that bridged creator culture and sports entertainment. It redefined how golf content can be produced and consumed by a new generation of fans.
Across all 48 competitors and participating media brands - including Barstool Sports, Fore Play, Spittin’ Chiclets, Dave Portnoy, Big Cat, Bob Does Sports, Good Good Golf and Rick Shiels Golf - the Internet Invitational activated a total cross-platform reach of more than 171 million followers.
The Internet Invitational series generated over 450 million impressions, over 22 million YouTube views, over 10 million total engagements, and content distributed across 18+ social accounts. The series achieved a 2.3% engagement rate, outperforming benchmarks for long-form sports content, while over 1,000 organic Invitational-related posts amplified reach across the creator ecosystem.
The impact extended far beyond the course - the Internet Invitational emerged as one of the most talked about golf stories of the year, driving over 1.5 billion impressions across social and mainstream media. Fueled by drama, rivalry, and authentic creator narratives, the tournament broadened golf’s cultural relevance and proved that digital-first sports formats can resonate with both core fans and mainstream audience
The strategic use of YouTube’s new collab functionality between Fore Play, Bob Does Sports and a newly created Internet Invitational channel (now with over 190K subscribers) further expanded reach in ways that had not previously been executed at this scale.
With its immediate success, the Internet Invitational established a new category of sports entertainment, proving that creator-driven competition could command mainstream attention, deliver real stakes, and sustain serialized viewership.
Across the six long-form episodes, the Internet Invitational generated:
It essentially captured widespread attention and, in effect, “broke the internet,” as individual episodes generated 2.6M-6.3M+ views with 43+ minute average view durations, reflecting sustained long-form engagement. The live finale peaked at 200K+ concurrent viewers and sustained 150K+ average live viewership, proving appointment viewing behavior within a creator-first sports property.
With strong brand partners along for the ride, such as Dunkin’, DraftKings, Microsoft Copilot, BODYARMOR, and Bass Pro Shops, the Internet Invitational delivered measurable success across audience scale, sponsorship ROI, and premium engagement, proving the commercial viability of a creator-led golf tournament.
Collectively, these KPIs demonstrate that the Internet Invitational was not only a cultural success but also a commercially viable, scalable sports entertainment model.
