Thursday Themes - Meet The New Boss Edition

It's been a busy week, so please bear with me there.  Just a couple of quick hits this morning, then I'll let you get on with your day.

Same As The Old Boss? - Answering the important questions:

Who is Brian Rolapp? Insiders speak on PGA Tour CEO’s pedigree and plan

So, the first piece of conventional wisdom to dispel is that Brian Rolapp is replacing Jay Monahan, though the latter has been a mere figurehead since his D-Day presser with Yasmin.

In any event, just as we saw the USGA irrationally coveting Masters ratings a few years back, you'll instinctively grasp that the PGA Tour's inferiority complex would blind them to all the ways in which they are not the NFL, not that Rolapp does have his assets:

‘Credibility,’ collaboration and self-promotion

BY ANY OBJECTIVE MEASURE, Brian Rolapp is anonymous.

Rolapp, who is 52, according to an internet profile, enters the PGA Tour after years as the most important deputy in pro sports, the right-hand man to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and media whiz responsible for the league’s universally envied rights business. He arrived at the NFL as an executive at NFL Media in 2003 and climbed the ladder steadily over the following 22 years, his tenure with the league overlapping with “the shield’s” metamorphosis from the largest sports league in America to the gravitational center of the sports universe.

But whatever ambition pushed Rolapp to six promotions at the NFL evidently did not extend into an appetite for chest-thumping. He did few interviews during his two decades with the league, and when he did speak, he had a habit of reinforcing his own disdain for the limelight.

“I don’t spend a lot of time self-promoting,” he told Fortune Magazine in 2015. “It’s not our culture. I don’t know how many people knew who Roger Goodell was until he was commissioner. But he was essentially the second-most important person in this building for a long time. And so I’m not saying that’s who I am, but it’s not our culture.”

Seems an awkward fit to this observer.  Rolapp seems to be the kind that wants to get things done and will forego credit to aid in that process.  Whereas the Tour's alpha dogs want what they want, and require a lapdog to take the public heat.  That's why Jay still has a job....

This will come as no surprise:

Still, Rolapp played a critical role in a historically explosive time at the NFL, particularly during his last eight years as the league’s chief media and business officer.

He was a central figure in the league’s business dealings — stewarding league initiatives that touched every corner of football’s moneymaking endeavors, with a special emphasis on media rights. High on Rolapp’s list of accomplishments are the last two rounds of NFL TV rights deals, which shattered the previous market for sports television and will generate the league more than $150 billion in revenue when all is finished. He leaves the league after years as the betting favorite to replace Goodell — who is 66 and whose current contract runs through 2027 — upon retirement.

“He’s bringing so much credibility,” a network executive told GOLF. “He’s the number two guy at, by far, the most successful sports league in this country. Obviously, his challenges will be bigger than what he’s done in the past. But he’s smart, he’s a good listener, he’s really well-liked and personable.”

Next thing they'll be telling us is that he's a good dancer and makes all his own clothes....

The Tour Confidential panel went long on this hire earlier in the week, so shall we riff on their work product?  Again, that was rhetorical:

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour officially announced Brian Rolapp as its new CEO. Rolapp was previously with the NFL as its longtime chief media and business officer. Why does this hire matter, and what does it essentially mean for the league, players and fans?

Colgan: It matters because of the job title. Rolapp understands that modern sports leagues are

media companies, and crucially, he understands that media is a positive-sum environment. More is more when it’s done right. $150 billion in media rights fees at the NFL prove he knows how to do it right.

Piastowski: Rolapp’s hire was a business hire. He himself said he has little golf background (though he once worked at Congressional). But he was, as Colgan noted above, instrumental in expanding the NFL’s reach, and one can imagine that was one of his selling points to Tour folks. Think about the changes we’ve seen in the NFL recently. Games all over the world. Games shown on different services. Games shown even on Nickelodeon. Rolapp promises not to be afraid to experiment in the hopes of growing. The players also seem excited by the hire. He’s an outsider. And the NFL background brings cachet.

Hirsh: It matters because the PGA Tour, which is not one of the four most popular leagues in this country, just hired away the heir apparent to the NFL Commissioner, which is the most popular sports league in the country. Clearly, the PGA Tour has been treading water the last few years with Jay Monahan as it battled LIV and this was a move to inject some much-needed new ideas.

Was he, in fact, the heir apparent to Roger?  Because I'm profoundly skeptical that anyone would see the PGA as even a lateral, especially a guy that can't be bothered playing much golf himself.  

But the siren song of new ideas?  That always works out, right?  And, by the way, how are football fans reacting to those games being streamed?  They're actually pretty pissed off, but whatev?

Rolapp has spent the majority of his career with the NFL, even adding in his introductory open letter, “I’ve got a lot to learn about golf.” Are you surprised an outsider from a different sport was brought in? And do you think that was the right move?

Colgan: A little surprised, but I think the PGA Tour could use the new set of eyes. There’s been so much change in pro golf over the last 4 years, and yet I wonder if any viewer at home feels the week-in, week-out experience is improved from the time Bryson and Phil were still on the PGA Tour. I’m a proponent of the Tour’s changes over the last few years, but a fresh perspective at the top might yield something even better (and inclusive of ALL the best golfers).

Piastowski: I’m mildly surprised, but the Strategic Sports Group, the group that’s pledged billions to the PGA Tour as it fights LIV Golf, is also mostly non-golf, too. Pro golf has become big business, and the Tour hopes it’s found a businessman. He might not be able to tell you the proper approach to escape a bunker, but he’ll have thoughts on how to get you to tune in, buy tickets, or both.

Hirsh: I’m not surprised. Like I alluded to above, the PGA Tour hasn’t really done much to combat LIV aside from becoming smaller and increasing purse sizes. It still looks exactly the same. Rolapp was brought in from one of the most successful properties in the world (the NFL) to shake things up and that’s exactly what the Tour needs.

Being a journalist means being able to advocate for amorphous "change", without the burden of identifying that change or how your traditional fans might react thereto.   

But I have a larger point to make, which is that much of what's wrong about the Tour seems to emanate from either not understanding the game of golf or willful indifference to the implications thereof.  Exhibit No. 1 ids the FedEx Cup, the hottest of messes because the Tour can't get its arms around the simple fact that golf ain't football.

People (and by people, I guess I mean Tim Finchem and Jay Monahan) that allegedly understand our game gave us the Tour Championship staggered start, so what could go wrong with technicians for whom golf is New Coke?

Like any incoming CEO, there’s a long list of items Rolapp needs to prioritize. What should be on the top of his list?

Colgan: LIV reintegration. The PGA Tour postseason. The broader PGA Tour schedule. The list goes on.

Piastowski: I like all of those. And I’ll add whether the PGA Tour takes its game more globally — Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America — or does it remain mostly in the U.S. Rory McIlroy has often brought up his wish of a global tour. I imagine this will be talked about.

Hirsh: All great points. Have to emphasize on LIV reintegration. Golf needs to be unified once again. I know Rolapp wasn’t there when the NFL and AFL merged, but he needs to bring some of that energy.

In case the writers at Golf.com haven't been following the news, but there's no deal because PIF has taken it's ball and gone home (admittedly the Tour forced things with the SSG investment), but somehow Rolapp will solve that stalemate.

Our James Colgan reported the Tour plans to “sunset” commissioner Jay Monahan after an overlap period that should help bring Rolapp up to speed, which could last between six and 18 months. How would you sum up Monahan’s body of work — the good and the bad — over the last nine years?

Colgan: Monahan has navigated some important times very well, but his tenure as commish will be remembered forever for LIV and the framework agreement of June 6, 2023. However you feel about that is how you feel about Monahan.

Piastowski: LIV and the framework agreement will be at the forefront of how Monahan will be remembered. Should he have reacted better to the Saudi investment? Should he have adopted earlier some of the changes now introduced? Perhaps. Players also point to how he managed the PGA Tour during Covid, getting it back to play after three months, and, as Tiger Woods has played fewer and fewer events the past few years, he’s managed to keep pro golf popular. But the turmoil will mark his tenure.

Hirsh: I’m not going to sit here and type how bad of a job Monahan did as a commissioner. But I will point out that he let LIV Golf happen when, if he was proactive about it, it might not have ever begun, and we wouldn’t have this period of divided golf that we have now. He will forever be remembered for that.

The Covid stuff is amusing, at least to this observer.  He might deserve credit for the return to play, but I can't give up the image of his incoherent rambling and indecisions at that 2020 Players Championship.  I've long thought that he sacrificed that event to allow the Chainsmokers concert to go forward.  

What has stayed with me as the manner in which Jay allowed the mask to slip, something no golf journalist seized upon.  Jay internalized a mantra, looking like a deer in the headlights as he repeatedly prattled on about how golf should continue because it was spread over hundreds of acres.  All well and good, Jay, or it would be if you didn't have folks like me connecting the dots.  Because, while the players had those hundreds of acres, Jay didn't give much thought to his fans and volunteers, who were jammed into courtesy buses and grandstands.... For that alone, Jay should have been fired immediately.

If you look at how they've reacted to the LIV threat, specifically the money grab by the elite players, it's impossible to be optimistic that a non-golfer will support the Tour's rank and file.  His career arc will be determined by how much money he puts in Patrick Cantlay's pocket, so your humble blogger will take comfort in the assumption that Brian Rolapp is unlikely to be able to ruin the majors.  We'll always have Paris.

I had intended to hit a couple of other items, but find myself up against a relentless clock.  Have a great weekend and we'll catch up on Monday.