Brian Rolapp is not shy about making big decisions, so it is no surprise he is looking to overhaul how the PGA Tour runs.
His main job as CEO is to build a more sustainable and exciting future for the sport. That means modernising parts of the Tour that are still tied to old ways of thinking.
One major change could be a move to a more condensed schedule, with each event carrying more financial weight and greater prestige.
Golf fans first heard about this plan earlier this month when Harris English mentioned it, hinting at what might be coming.
Rolapp has made it clear that he does not intend to let tradition get in the way of changes he believes will benefit the PGA Tour.
Although an eventual shorter season for the PGA Tour appears likely, this change has not been officially confirmed.
Who better, then, to inquire about Rolapp’s intentions than the man himself?
Brian Rolapp addresses talk of a 20-event PGA Tour schedule
Rolapp addressed questions about the Tour’s direction at the CNBC CEO Council Forum.
He was asked specifically about Harris English’s comments regarding a potential move to a 20-event schedule.
“Nothing has been decided, and 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 really not that complicated. If you are going to compete with Football in this country for media dollars and attention, it’s a really hard thing to do.
“The majority of golf is played in the summer and gets people’s attention, so looking at schedules to help optimize that calendar is certainly something we talk about.
“If you go further upstream, what Harris is also referring to is, when I was on the job not too long, the first thing I decided to do was announce a new committee called the Future Competition Committee, which is chaired by Tiger Woods and is made up of a handful of players and some outside advisors, which is aimed at looking at the competitive product with the idea of how do we make it better for players and for fans and our partners?,” Rolapp said.
He added: “And these are the types of debates we’re having. How does the schedule look? How do you make bigger events? How do you actually stream them together in a season that you can understand?
“Part of professional golf’s issue is it has grown up as a series of events, that happened to be on television, as opposed to how do you actually take those events, making them meaningful in their own right, but cobble them together in a competitive model, including with a post-season that you would all understand whether you’re a golf fan or a sports fan.
“So, those are the questions we’re asking how to make bigger and better events, how to put them in the calendar where fans will watch more and how to put it in a competitive model that not only golf fans, but sports fans will embrace.
“Those are all the things we’re discussing. Nothing’s been decided, but that’s the committee’s job.”
PGA Tour eyes schedule starting after Super Bowl
Rolapp was asked if he envisions a future where the golf season kicks off following the end of the NFL postseason.
He answered positively: “Yeah, I could see that.
“I think, you know, I think there’s a lot of common themes. One thing we did in this committee, which is important, is we launched it with more questions and answers. And we did that on purpose because we want it to be informed by data, research, in our partners.
“So we concluded a series of meetings where all of our media partners came in and we just said, blank sheet of paper. What would you do? How would you make this great to increase fan engagement?
“We brought media partners, we don’t have deals with, who are also in the sports landscape, who said, ‘Hey, this would make the sport more interesting’. We brought in sponsors, ‘Hey, how do you make this more effective for you to activate around’?
“We surveyed fans about, ‘What do you want to see’? And that’s all being input into the discussion and how you actually make the sport better.
“So, yeah, you could see us making events bigger.”
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