New CEO Brian Rolapp has given a fascinating insight into the future of the PGA Tour, with plenty of clues about what a new revamped calendar will look like and how his NFL experience will shape things going forward.
There’s no doubt big changes are coming, with Rolapp suggesting the new PGA Tour will be focused on fewer, but more important events to increase competitiveness.
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Rolapp also pushed back on the common theme of having all the best players in the world playing more often as the only way forward for golf – saying it was a “complete misconception” that tournaments are made by the golfers playing in it.
A big aim of the new CEO is to build a PGA Tour that’s ultra competitive, with the tournaments bigger than the stars playing in them, and “creating more events that matter” so certainly expect some streamlining in the calendar.
Here are more in-depth points from Rolapp, so read these, or watch his full interview at the bottom of the article and then let us know your thoughts on the future of the PGA Tour by joining the conversation below.
A post-Super Bowl season start?
On Harris English’s comments: “Nothing’s been decided. I think Harris’ comments have been getting a lot of attention, but Harris’ comments really reflect a lot of conversations that have been going on.
“If you dig deeper into what he said, it’s not that complicated. Competing with football in this country for media dollars and attention is a really hard thing to do.
“So the idea of the majority of the sport of golf played in the summer and gets people’s attention, so looking at the schedule and optimize that part of the calendar is certainly something we talk about.”
On whether a revamped golf season would start after the Super Bowl: “Yeah I could see that.”
What will the new PGA Tour season look like?
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On what the new Future Competition Committee, led by Tiger Woods, is figuring out about how to shape a new PGA Tour season so that is has more flow:
“How do you make bigger events and stream them together in a season you can understand? Part of professional golf’s issue is it has grown up as a series of events that happen to be on television.
“How do you actually take those events and cobble them together in a competitive model including a post-season that you would understand whether you’re a golf fan or a sports fan.
“Nothing’s been decided but that’s the committee’s job.”
Any given Sunday & every event should really matter
(Image credit: Getty Images/PGA Tour)
Why less is more for the new PGA Tour: “The sports business model isn’t that complicated, you first get the competitive model right and you find the best partners, if you get that right then fans will reward you with their time.
“First is competitive parity, second is simplicity and third is scarcity.
“If you look at competitive parity, what worked at the NFL and what all sports are chasing is how do you make the competition as tight as possible so that any given Sunday you don’t know who’s going to win.
“Golf has that, the difference between the 10th best golfer in the world and the 50th is razor thin, that’s an incredible strength. Golf already has the hard part.
“But how do you make a competitive model that’s simple to understand, and how do you make scarce events that fans actually want to follow?”
On whether this is all based on his NFL experience: “It’s not NFL-izing, it’s creating more events that matter. This isn’t taking the NFL model and applying it to golf, it is taking principals that fans across sports have said – I will reward you with my time if you make an event that matters.
“That’s what we’re striving for, every event should really matter.”
On when we’ll know more: “I think we’ll know in a handful of months where we come out.”
Will there be a LIV deal?
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On talks about a deal with LIV Golf: “I’ve had conversations, sure. I’ve been very public on this, I will do whatever makes the PGA Tour stronger.
“I work for the players, we have a system where they own the equity and can actually earn more, which is an extremely powerful model within sports.
“I feel a deep responsibility to them. They should be benefitting more than anybody because they are the sport.”
On if he wants a deal with LIV: “Depends. Depends what the terms are. I think we’re doing pretty good competing the way we are.
“But yes, having the best professional tour makes sense and you need the best golfers to do that, but I’m very focused on developing a professional sport that outlasts any of our stars – that’s what the most successful sports do.”
On whether Bryson DeChambeau not being on the PGA Tour is a problem: “Byrson is a star, an amazing golfer, he’s also amazing off the golf course.
“The bulk of his consumption where people see him is on YouTube by the way, they don’t see him on television because the other league doesnt really draw a lot of viewers.”
A new PGA Tour stronger than individual players
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On whether golf actually needs to unify and if the best have to play each other more often: “Everybody wants to see the best golfers compete but I will say there’s a complete misconception about the sport of golf that any given tournament matters if the same three of four people are in it.
“Everyone has this premise that a tournament only matters if one or two players are in it – there’s no data to support that.
“Every sport has stars, but what really makes sports work is those middle classes. So in my old job, sure, we put the Kansas City Chiefs on primetime as much as we can, but that’s not why the NFL was so successful – it’s because when the Bengals are good you watch when the Lions are good you watch.
“The middle class matters. You cannot build a lifelong sport that outlives your stars if you don’t build a system that works beyond your stars.”
On what the new PGA Tour will be built on: “If you look at the depth of the PGA Tour and the stories coming out of there I think that’s where the real strength of our Tour is.
“Any sport worth its salt that says this competition only works if a couple of people are in it isn’t a sport, it’s a circus.
“And I don’t think that’s what the PGA Tour is. It’s a compelling athletic contest with the deepest resevoir of professional golfers on the planet.”
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