LOS ANGELES & PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 8, 2026--
Viking ® ( www.viking.com ) (NYSE: VIK) and the PGA TOUR today announced a new multi-year marketing partnership that designates Viking as the Official Cruise Line of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions.
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The agreement, which currently runs through 2030, will center around a brand awareness campaign for Viking through media and digital placements on various PGA TOUR platforms.
“We are very pleased to be the Official Cruise Line of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions,” said Richard Marnell, Viking’s Executive Vice President of Marketing. “Both golf and travel are important priorities in the lives of many Viking guests, so partnering with the PGA TOUR is a natural fit and builds on our continued commitment to support cultural programming and events.”
Viking was founded in 1997 with a vision that travel could be more destination-focused and culturally enriching. Today, Viking is a global leader in experiential travel, with a fleet of more than 100 ships, exploring 21 rivers, five oceans and all seven continents.
“We are excited to introduce Viking to our fans across the world as the new Official Cruise Line of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions,” said Dan Glod, PGA TOUR Executive Vice President, Corporate Partnerships. “A universally recognized leader in the industry, we’re proud to partner with Viking as they are known for providing memorable and enriching travel experiences that resonate with our players and fans.”
Viking has a longstanding history of supporting cultural programming and events, partnering with prestigious institutions, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Opera. Viking also recently announced a long-term agreement with the Norwegian Football Federation, making Viking the main sponsor for the National Team Academy (Landslagsskolen) and Norway’s U-level national teams.
About PGA TOUR
By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires and positively impacts our fans, partners and communities worldwide.
The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions events on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Americas and administers PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry and PGA TOUR University. PGA TOUR members represent the world’s best players, hailing from 28 countries and territories. Showcasing the biggest moments in the sport with history and legacy on the line, the PGA TOUR operates PGA TOUR Studios–a state-of-the-art production studio redefining golf content for fans worldwide—and has long-term domestic distribution partnerships for broadcast coverage on CBS, NBC and Golf Channel, with video streaming service on ESPN+ and additional coverage on multiple Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channels. Internationally, the PGA TOUR Studios-produced World Feed is available across 200+ countries and territories in 30 languages via 39 broadcast and digital partners. To date, events across all Tours have generated more than $4 billion in charitable giving. Fans can follow the PGA TOUR at PGATOUR.COM, on the app and in multiple languages across their favorite social media pages.
About Viking
Viking (NYSE: VIK) is a global leader in experiential travel with a fleet of more than 100 ships, exploring 21 rivers, five oceans and all seven continents. Designed for curious travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman and CEO Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers experiences For The Thinking Person™. Viking has more than 450 awards to its name, including being rated #1 for Rivers and #1 for Oceans five years in a row by Condé Nast Traveler in the 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards. Viking is also rated a “World’s Best” by Travel + Leisure —no other travel company has simultaneously received such honors by both publications. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com.
Viking and the PGA TOUR today announced a new multi-year marketing partnership that designates Viking as the Official Cruise Line of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions. Running through 2030, the agreement will center around a brand awareness campaign for Viking through media and digital placements on various PGA TOUR platforms. For more information, visit www.viking.com.
A quarterback reportedly reneging on a lucrative deal to hit the transfer portal, only to return to his original school. Another starting QB, this one in the College Football Playoff, awaiting approval from the NCAA to play next season, an expensive NIL deal apparently hanging in the balance. A defensive star, sued by his former school after transferring, filing a lawsuit of his own.
It is easy to see why many observers say things are a mess in college football even amid a highly compelling postseason.
“It gets crazier and crazier. It really, really does,” said Sam Ehrlich, a Boise State legal studies professor who tracks litigation against the NCAA. He said he might have to add a new section for litigation against the NCAA stemming just from transfer portal issues.
“I think a guy signing a contract and then immediately deciding he wants to go to another school, that’s a kind of a new thing,” he said. “Not new kind of historically when you think about all the contract jumping that was going on in the ’60s and ’70s with the NBA. But it’s a new thing for college sports, that’s for sure.”
Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said late Thursday he will return to school for the 2026 season rather than enter the transfer portal, avoiding a potentially messy dispute amid reports the Huskers were prepared to pursue legal options to enforce Williams’ name, image and likeness contract.
Edge rusher Damon Wilson is looking to transfer after one season at Missouri, having been sued for damages by Georgia over his decision to leave the Bulldogs. He has countersued.
Then there is Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who reportedly has a new NIL deal signed but is awaiting an NCAA waiver allowing him to play another season as he and the Rebels played Thursday night's Collge Football Playoff semifinal against Miami. On the Hurricanes roster: Defensive back Xavier Lucas, whose transfer from Wisconsin led to a lawsuit against the Hurricanes last year with the Badgers claiming he was improperly lured by NIL money. Lucas has played all season for Miami. The case is pending.
Court rulings have favored athletes of late, winning them not just millions in compensation but the ability to play immediately after transferring rather than have to sit out a year as once was the case. They can also discuss specific NIL compensation with schools and boosters before enrolling and current court battles include players seeking to play longer without lower-college seasons counting against their eligibility and ability to land NIL money while doing it.
Ehrlich compared the situation to the labor upheaval professional leagues went through before finally settling on collective bargaining, which has been looked at as a potential solution by some in college sports over the past year. Athletes.org, a players association for college athletes, recently offered a 38-page proposal of what a labor deal could look like.
“I think NCAA is concerned, and rightfully so, that anything they try to do to tamp down this on their end is going to get shut down,” Ehrlich said. “Which is why really the only two solutions at this point are an act of Congress, which feels like an act of God at this point, or potentially collective bargaining, which has its own major, major challenges and roadblocks.”
The NCAA has been lobbying for years for limited antitrust protection to keep some kind of control over the new landscape — and to avoid more crippling lawsuits — but bills have gone nowhere in Congress.
Collective bargaining is complicated and universities have long balked at the idea that their athletes are employees in some way. Schools would become responsible for paying wages, benefits, and workers’ compensation. And while private institutions fall under the National Labor Relations Board, public universities must follow labor laws that vary from state to state; virtually every state in the South has “right to work” laws that present challenges for unions.
Ehrlich noted the short careers for college athletes and wondered whether a union for collective bargaining is even possible.
To sports attorney Mit Winter, employment contracts may be the simplest solution.
“This isn’t something that’s novel to college sports,” said Winter, a former college basketball player who is now a sports attorney with Kennyhertz Perry. “Employment contracts are a huge part of college sports, it’s just novel for the athletes.”
Employment contracts for players could be written like those for coaches, he suggested, which would offer buyouts and prevent players from using the portal as a revolving door.
“The contracts that schools are entering into with athletes now, they can be enforced, but they cannot keep an athlete out of school because they’re not signing employment contracts where the school is getting the right to have the athlete play football for their school or basketball or whatever sport it is,” Winter said. “They’re just acquiring the right to be able to use the athlete’s NIL rights in various ways. So, a NIL agreement is not going to stop an athlete from transferring or going to play whatever sport it is that he or she plays at another school.”
There are challenges here, too, of course: Should all college athletes be treated as employees or just those in revenue-producing sports? Can all injured athletes seek workers' compensation and insurance protection? Could states start taxing athlete NIL earnings?
Winter noted a pending federal case against the NCAA could allow for athletes to be treated as employees more than they currently are.
“What’s going on in college athletics now is trying to create this new novel system where the athletes are basically treated like employees, look like employees, but we don’t want to call them employees,” Winter said. “We want to call them something else and say they’re not being paid for athletic services. They’re being paid for use of their NIL. So, then it creates new legal issues that have to be hashed out and addressed, which results in a bumpy and chaotic system when you’re trying to kind of create it from scratch.”
He said employment contracts would allow for uniform rules, including how many schools an athlete can go to or if the athlete can go to another school when the deal is up. That could also lead to the need for collective bargaining.
“If the goal is to keep someone at a school for a certain defined period of time, it’s got to be employment contracts,” Winter said.
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Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) runs the ball during the second half of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Miami, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
