PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp Talks End of LIV Golf Tie-Up Talks

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**Tom Keene** (0:13)
Bloomberg Money is about making and investing your money, but it's also about spending it. And a lot of people like spending it on golf, both watching and playing it. Professional golf only caught the attention of golfers for decades, but over the last five years, it's become kind of a soap opera. Bloomberg Senior Business of Sports reporter Randall Williams joins us now. And Randall, I go to the idea that for people in the US, professional golf was equal to the PGA Tour, but then you had LIV Golf, which was funded by the Saudi Arabians, popping up as a competitor. And then at some point, the two decided on a merger, but then I don't think anything happened. What's the latest or what has happened?

**Randall Williams** (0:48)
Well, it's been on an indefinite pause, but the PGA Tour has evolved since then. Of course, LIV Golf entered, it caused a lot of chaos, but then you had the Strategic Sports Group, it's backed by Fenway Sports Group, it's backed by Steve Cohen, who's the Mets owner, and then you have Arthur Blank, who's the Falcons owner. Them and a lot more people put up to $3 billion into the PGA Tour, which created a for-profit arm called the PGA Tour Enterprises. Since then, the PGA Tour has been slowly trying to, I'd say, recalibrate itself to get on the right track, to evolve, to fill in some of the holes that maybe LIV Golf exposed.

**Tom Keene** (1:23)
What were some of the holes that LIV Golf exposed? Because golf had a bit of a renaissance during the pandemic. Up until that point, a lot of people criticized it for being hard, elitist, expensive, but then golf found itself during the pandemic.

**Randall Williams** (1:35)
I'd say that golf is a traditionalist sport. With tradition, there's always tradition versus innovation. Of course, you had some people complaining about player pay. You had people complaining about the tournament schedule.
Now we have a bunch of innovations that are happening in regards to the system of golf. There's going to be a championship series and a challenger series. That's how the changes have come about.

**Scarlet Fu** (1:59)
What do you see TV doing here? The Masters is iconic and all that, but in terms of the entertainment TV streaming battle, are there going to be a huge bidding war from where you sit?

**Randall Williams** (2:08)
I think so. I think we're a couple years away from that, but media rights are of course a huge part of the sports business. If you're not in the media rights business, then your sport probably isn't going to last very long. PGA Tour is still the dominant presence in golf. I think LIV, the threat of LIV, came from the Saudis who had seemingly limitless pockets. Now that that is not in existence anymore, the PGA Tour is again, once again, the dominant franchise that I think broadcasters are going to be bidding on.

**Tom Keene** (2:33)
Yeah, with Saudi Arabia pulling its funding from that other golf league. Thank you so much. Bloomberg Senior Business of Sports reporter Randall Williams. Joining us now, I'm pleased to say, is the CEO, the new CEO of the PGA Tour, Brian Rolapp. Brian, great to see you here.

**Brian Rolapp** (2:47)
Great to see you.

**Tom Keene** (2:47)
We just talked about how golf is for the traditionalists.
A lot of people like to say, it's the sport most like life because it's hard, but it's also elitist and expensive. Coming from the NFL, do you see those as features to be protected or barriers to growth that should be challenged?

**Brian Rolapp** (3:04)
Well, I think any professional sport that's worth its salt, will always challenge where it is. I think there's one thing I learned at the NFL over two decades is, if you're not going forward, you're going backwards and innovation matters. When I first took the job, I was very clear that we're going to honor tradition, but we're not going to be overly bound by it.
You look at some of the trends of the game of golf, well, as you say, maybe it has its reputation or its elitist. If you look at the growth since COVID, participation in golf in this country has grown 39 percent since COVID. Now, you don't have to play a sport to watch it on television for sure helps. Half of that growth is under the age of 35 The average age of a professional tour telecast, inclusive of the majors, is 66 years old. So, there is a disconnect between where the sport is going and what professionals have been able to do. We are closing that gap in significant ways, and if you just close that gap to a minimum, you've got a bit of a rocket ship.