PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will step down at the end of his contract in 2026, transitioning his day-to-day responsibilities of running the circuit to new CEO Brian Rolapp, the Tour said in a statement Tuesday.
There are a lot of questions that we’ll sort out over time, but here is what we know:
Rolapp will serve as the CEO of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises, the Tour’s for-profit entity. The Tour said its management team will report to Rolapp, while he will report to the board of directors of both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises.Rolapp comes from the NFL where he worked as their chief media and business officer. He oversaw the NFL’s broadcast and digital rights, NFL Network, NFL Films, sponsorships, consumer products and the league’s private investment entity. Under his leadership, the NFL secured media deals with ESPN/ABC, Amazon, CBS, Fox, NBC, Netflix and YouTube, which reportedly earn the league more than $10 billion per season.Rolapp was introduced to the players earlier today at the Travelers Championship. Monahan is staying involved over the next couple of years, but Rolapp will be starting his new role as CEO later this summer. Monahan will focus the rest of his tenure on being a member of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises boards. The Tour had been searching for a new CEO since December.Monahan’s time as commissioner is coming to a close
We wrote last year about some of the reasons why Monahan should no longer be leading the Tour, and those points still hold true.
Monahan has been a poor communicator, even regularly botching press conferences. And his mishandling of the LIV situation will put a black mark on his legacy.
That’s not to say it has all been bad. On the contrary, Monahan made a handful of moves that strengthened the Tour. He was particularly clever in negotiating a lucrative TV contract, and his ability to salvage corporate sponsorships was admirable. Reshaping the Tour calendar—which was led by the players—has also been moderately successful. And securing a multi-billion dollar private equity investment has helped the Tour become more sustainable on its own.




















