PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will step down on the finish of his contract in 2026 and can transition his day-to-day duties of working the circuit to new CEO Brian Rolapp, the tour stated in an announcement Tuesday.
In a information launch, the PGA Tour stated Monahan would deal with his function as a member of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises boards throughout the remainder of his tenure.
“A 12 months in the past, I knowledgeable our Boards that upon finishing a decade as commissioner, I’d step down from my function on the finish of 2026,” Monahan stated in an announcement. “Since then, we have labored collectively to establish a frontrunner who can construct on our momentum and develop a course of that ensures a easy transition. We have discovered precisely the proper chief in Brian Rolapp, and I am excited to assist him as he transitions from the NFL into his new function main the PGA Tour.”
The tour introduced Rolapp’s hiring Tuesday. Final week, ESPN reported that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell despatched a memo to workforce executives and presidents informing them of Rolapp’s departure.
Rolapp will function the CEO of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises, the circuit’s for-profit entity. The tour stated its administration workforce will report back to Rolapp, whereas he’ll report back to the board of administrators of each the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises.
The tour stated Rolapp will start his new function later this summer season.
“I am honored to affix the PGA Tour at such a pivotal time,” Rolapp stated in an announcement. “The PGA Tour represents the best degree of competitors, integrity and world alternative within the recreation of golf, and I imagine deeply within the tour’s mission and its potential to develop even stronger. I am able to get to work — alongside our gamers, companions and management workforce — to construct lasting worth and ship an much more dynamic future for the game and our followers.”
Rolapp beforehand labored because the NFL’s chief media and enterprise officer and was the lead architect of the league’s media and enterprise playbook throughout a time when the league’s progress exploded.
“Brian is the proper alternative for the subsequent chapter of the PGA TOUR,” Monahan added. “His arrival strengthens our management workforce and displays our shared dedication to the tour’s continued evolution. With Brian’s experience and imaginative and prescient, and the belief we have established with our gamers and followers, I am extra assured than ever sooner or later we’re constructing.”
Amongst different roles, Rolapp oversaw the NFL’s broadcast and digital rights, NFL Community, NFL Movies, sponsorships, client merchandise and the league’s personal funding entity, the PGA Tour stated. Underneath Rolapp’s management, the NFL secured media offers with ESPN/ABC, Amazon, CBS, Fox, NBC, Netflix and YouTube, which reportedly earn the league greater than $10 billion per season.
“Brian’s appointment is a win for gamers and followers,” PGA Tour director Tiger Woods stated in an announcement. “He has a transparent respect for the sport and our gamers and brings a recent perspective from his expertise within the NFL. I am enthusiastic about what’s forward — and assured that with Brian’s management, we’ll proceed to develop the tour in ways in which profit everybody who loves this sport.”
The PGA Tour has been looking for a CEO since December; NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps, TaylorMade Golf CEO David Abeles and others had been additionally linked to the place.
Monahan changed Tim Finchem as PGA Tour commissioner in January 2017, changing into the fourth to fill that function. He was closely criticized by the tour’s golfers and others when the circuit secretly reached a framework settlement in June 2023 to kind an alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund and the DP World Tour.
The PIF has financed the rival LIV Golf League the previous 4 years. It lured away a number of PGA Tour stars, together with previous main champions Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm, with assured contracts price greater than $100 million.
The perimeters have been trying to barter a deal for the reason that framework settlement expired on the finish of 2023; they final met on the White Home in February.
Monahan helped the tour attain a possible $3 billion take care of Strategic Sports activities Group, a consortium of billionaire sports activities workforce homeowners, to spend money on the circuit’s for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises.
“Commissioner Monahan is an unbelievable chief, and it has been a pleasure attending to know him all through the interview course of,” Rolapp stated in an announcement. “I tremendously recognize his dedication to creating me profitable within the function and stay up for working with him in partnership all through this transition.”
