Jay Monahan to leave next year as PGA Tour turns to NFL exec Brian Rolapp for new leadership
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Jay Monahan is leaving the PGA Tour next year after a decade that ends with a sport fractured by the Saudi riches of LIV Golf. He turns it over to top NFL executive Brian Rolapp in a new role as CEO that Rolapp sees as rife with commercial growth.
Rolapp, the chief media and business officer for the NFL and seen as a potential successor to a Commissioner Roger Goodell, was introduced Tuesday as CEO, a position that had never existed in the tour’s six decades of existence.
“Players are central to everything we do, and making sure they are supported and heard will be a top priority,” Rolapp said in an open letter. “At the same time, we are going to keep challenging ourselves to grow the game in new ways, reach new fans, and create a tour that reflects the future of sports and entertainment.”
Rolapp met with the players for an hour on Tuesday morning ahead of the Travelers Championship, offering broad views more geared toward what the tour has in its favor before identifying any solutions to patch the game back together.
“Everything that works in the football world may not work in the golf world,” Rolapp said. “When it comes to that situation particularly, I think the fans have been pretty clear. They want to see the best golfers competing against each other. I agree with that. When it comes to the situation with LIV, I think that’s a complex situation that’s probably something I should learn more about before I speak.
“But I will say my focus is on growing the tour, making it better, and really moving on from the position of strength that it has.”
Monahan announced last December the search for a CEO. Still unclear was his role until the announcement of Rolapp on Tuesday. Monahan said he will shift his day-to-day responsibilities to Rolapp and focus more on his position on the PGA Tour board, along with the commercial PGA Tour Enterprises board, through the end of his contract in 2026.
“A year ago, I informed our boards that upon completing a decade as commissioner, I would step down from my role at the end of 2026,” Monahan said.
Tiger Woods flew to Connecticut for the player meeting and introduction of Rolapp. He is out for the year after rupturing his Achilles tendon, though he was walking without a boot.
Woods and Adam Scott were the two players on the board who were part of the search committee, joined by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, PGA Tour board chairman Joe Gorder and Sam Kennedy from Strategic Sports Group.
Lucas Glover said Rolapp told players he had a lot to learn and didn’t have all the answers being new to the job, which will start sometime this summer.
“He seems to be all in on growing the game, and he’s pretty adamant about going forward,” Glover said.
As for Monahan leaving, Glover said: “Whatever they think. I’ve got to get my gripes behind and go forward. I think we all learned it’s time for that.”
Rolapp was introduced two days after the U.S. Open, one of four times a year all the best players are together.
Monahan, who guided all of golf through the COVID-19 pandemic, was criticized for not taking a meeting with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia when it wanted to invest in golf with a team component.
LIV Golf began in June 2022 and over the next two years lured away Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson, among others.
Monahan and two board members, Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy, then secretly met with PIF leadership and reached an agreement in late May 2023 geared toward ending the antitrust lawsuits and bringing golf back together.
The secrecy stunned players and infuriated most of them who turned down the Saudi money to stay loyal to the tour.
The framework agreement was never finalized. The PGA Tour and PIF are still negotiating on an investment deal, and not even President Donald Trump could smooth the way after a meeting at the White House in February.
“Brian is the perfect choice for the next chapter of the PGA Tour,” Monahan said. “His arrival strengthens our leadership team and reflects our shared commitment to the tour’s continued evolution. With Brian’s expertise and vision, and the trust we’ve established with our players and fans, I’m more confident than ever in the future we’re building.”
The tour in January 2024 brought in Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of sports owners led by Fenway Sports Group, and its $1.5 billion investment that could double. The tour also introduced a first-of-its-kind player equity program.
Rolapp said having the back of SSG, which was deeply involved in the CEO search, was appealing for commercial growth.
“I think the investment of capital and the pledge of future capital has been one of the things that have strengthened the tour. I think it’s a huge opportunity,” Rolapp said. “Where we deploy that capital, I have ideas. I don’t think I want to share them now, but that’s going to be part of the job to get in there and talk about it.”
It will be a big change for Rolapp, going from two decades at a league of 32 team owners to a tour with nearly 200 players who operate independently.
“The players own the tour — it’s their tour,” Rolapp said. “Having said that — and we talked a little bit about this in our player meeting — I think they know what’s good for fans is also good for the tour. Working in the sports business as long as I have, sometimes it’s not that complicated. If you think what’s best for the fan, it’s usually best for everybody involved. So I think we’re going to keep that mindset here.”
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