The PGA Tour New CEO Brian Rolapp promised “significant change” during his introductory press conference. Rolapp, who spent years in the NFL as commissioner Roger Goodell’s right-hand man, wants to build his PGA Tour around equality, scarcity and simplicity — just like the NFL.
Of course, Rolapp’s promise of change has everyone wondering what the PGA Tour plans to look like once these changes are in place. In last week’s RSM Classic Ryder Cupper Harris English provided some clues about what Rolapp might be planning to tweak as he gets under the hood.
“We’ve got some smart guys at the helm. Now with Brian Rolapp coming in, he’s looking at the PGA Tour in a different light,” English said.
“Sometimes change is good. I understand they want all the best players to play together more often, and the talk of the tournament possibly starting after the Super Bowl I think is a pretty good thing because we can’t really compete with football. So we’ll see where it goes.”
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English isn’t the first player to correctly note that golf can’t “compete” with the NFL. In 2005, Tiger Woods said he believed the PGA Tour season should end around Labor Day before football started. The PGA Tour changed the FedEx Cup Playoffs schedule to avoid the NFL in 2019. In 2014, at the BMW Championship, Rory McIlroy praised the NFL for its absence, which makes fans want more.
All of this is in line with Rolapp’s three pillars. English noted that a change to a 20- or 22-event schedule may not happen until 2027.
During an interview with CNBC CEO ForumRolapp didn’t shy away from English’s revelation that the PGA Tour is considering shrinking the schedule and potentially changing it to avoid his former employer.
“Nothing has been decided and Harris’ comments have gotten a lot of attention, but Harris’ comments really reflect a lot of conversations that have been going on.“ Rolapp said. “If you dig deeper into what he said, it’s really not that complicated. If you’re going to compete with soccer in this country for dollars and media attention, it’s a really hard thing to do. Most of the golf is played in the summer and it gets people’s attention, so looking at the schedules to help optimize that calendar is certainly something we talk about.”
When Rolapp first started as CEO of the PGA Tour, he created a Future Competition Committee, which is chaired by Tiger Woods, to help examine all the ways the PGA Tour can improve its product with a focus on creating a product that connects the regular season and postseason that fans can more easily understand instead of just having a lot of unrelated events jammed together.
