Brian Rolapp is no shrinking violet, so it should surprise nobody that he is prepared to make sweeping changes to the way in which the PGA Tour operates.
Rolapp‘s main remit when landing the role of the new PGA Tour CEO was to ensure a more exciting yet sustainable future for the Tour.
Rolapp is said to be planning a shorter PGA Tour season, with every single event being elevated both from financial and prestige standpoints.
And then earlier this month, Harris English was the first player to let slip about the PGA Tour’s new plan.
Rolapp admitted that he ‘won’t be overly bound by golf’s traditions’ when making changes which he believes will be for the betterment of the PGA Tour.
Would you prefer to see a 20-event PGA Tour schedule which runs for six months rather than the current system?
As things stand, it seems like the future of the PGA Tour will involve a shorter season, but that hasn’t actually been confirmed yet.
So who better to ask about Rolapp’s plans than the man himself?
Brian Rolapp responds to Harris English’s claim about 20-event PGA Tour schedule
Rolapp has been speaking about the PGA Tour’s future during a CNBC CEO Council Forum.
When he was reminded of English’s recent comments, the former NFL chief responded in typically authoritative style.
“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,“ Rolapp explained.
“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.
The PGA Tour CEO continued: “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?
“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.“
A PGA Tour schedule beginning in February after the Super Bowl
Rolapp was asked whether he genuinely sees a future whereby the golf season starts after the NFL post season is finished.
“Yeah, I could see that,“ Rolapp stated confidently.
“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.“
Why a 20-event PGA Tour schedule would improve the product
Scarcity is a word that is being thrown around a lot right now regarding ways the PGA Tour can make the product they offer better.
Ask any football fan and they will tell you how the four-month NFL season creates levels of unrivalled delirium.
A more condensed PGA Tour schedule would lead to more fan excitement ahead of the first event of the season.
As the old saying goes; ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’.
There is definitely a case to be made that the fact there is a PGA Tour event almost every single week of the year somewhat diminishes the quality of the product.
Rolapp is clearly prioritizing quality over quantity moving forward and a 20-event schedule, with every single game-week, so to speak, being an ‘elevated’ event.
And the PGA Tour may well grow into a much stronger entity as a result of that. However, only time will tell whether Rolapp’s stint in charge of the PGA Tour will go down as a successful one or not.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
