Brian Rolapp will leave his position in the NFL to become the first CEO of the PGA Tour.
Getty Images
There is white smoke rolling above the PGA Tour headquarters.
According to multiple reports, it is expected that current Commissioner Roger Goodell’s long-term executive and first heir Brian Rolapp will become the first CEO of the PGA Tour. ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was the first to report the news.
Rolapp is expected to be confirmed as Tour CEO sometime next week at a meeting of the Tour Player Advisory and Corporate Committee. The tour traditionally held a board meeting during Travelers Championship Week, which overlaps with the end of the second quarter of the Tour. If the circuit board plans are in the situation (composed of six “player directors” and six “independent directors”), Rolapp will become the first CEO of the tour, playing that role, which is expected to have a significant impact on the shape and future of golf’s largest professional tour.
Long-time NFL media director Rolapp represents a major coup in this tour. He has been the “Chief Business and Media Officer” of the NFL for the past eight years, during which he helped negotiate multiple landmarks with media partners at NBC, CBS, Fox, Netflix and Amazon, billions of dollars in media rights. Rolapp has spent a variety of roles in the NFL over the past 22 years, most of which are in the league’s media business, currently generating more than $10 billion in media business each year. Rolapp’s success in roles and relationships with the League’s insiders made him the heir to the League’s long-time commissioner Goodell. Goodell, 66, has led the NFL since 2007, recently extended his contract to 2027.
It is unclear how Rolapp’s recruitment will affect the work of current commissioner Jay Monahan, whose tenure on tour has been under increasing scrutiny in the two years following a “framework agreement” with Saudi PIF. A tour source said Monahan felt “very good” about the candidate for Rolapp.
“The PGA Tour headquarters is buzzing,” the source said. “It’s a great day for the tour. People are really positive.”
Rolapp has entered a new role and has several considerable concerns on the horizon: the ongoing battle with Liv Golf, the deployment of $1.5 billion in the “growth capital” of Strategic Sports Group, the ongoing perversion of the Tour and the ongoing perversion of Topsy Turvy TV TV ratings.
When Golf.com arrived, there were several industry links with Golf and Rolapp and endorsed the hiring.
“Brian is an excellent collaborator and a smart leader who knows how to make the agenda a reality,” said an industry source.
Rolapp’s rise in the NFL coincides with the rapid growth in the value and importance of media rights transactions that have gradually occupied overall sports revenue. Today, media rights fees – broadcast rights paid by the network to the league – constitute tens of thousands of billions of dollars in revenue each year for the largest sports leagues. The PGA Tour is currently in a mid-term 10-year, $700 million annual rights agreement with NBC and CBS.
