Rory McIlroy’s ‘NFL’ answer gives a glimpse into golf’s tightrope walk

Brian Rolapp’s resume may be several pages long, but it’s actually only three letters.

National Football League.

Three letters mean a lot in golf, but in football they can be a little more taxing. The new PGA Tour chief executive’s journey to the top seat of golf’s biggest professional tour has been almost entirely through the NFL, the world’s most profitable sports entity. As the league’s leader in media rights and innovation, his agenda has transformed his career from NFL intern to commissioner Roger Goodell’s right-hand man takes NFL business from billions to billions Hundreds of billions Dollar. It doesn’t take an expert on the PGA Tour’s internal machinations to understand the appeal behind his candidacy for tour leader: bringing a new three-letter word, National Football Leagueplaying golf.

This logic is reasonable, if not absolute. Rollup should want to put into practice some of the lessons that have made the NFL so successful over the past two decades. (After all, he does help the NFL Very rich. ) From all indications, he plans to do so. He joked about “big changes” at his opening press conference as CEO.

But what kind of changes are on the menu? How much of the NFL is a good thing? As the calendar turns to fall 2025, this is the most important question in golf.

“I’ve always said this in America: Golf doesn’t need to be the NFL,” Rory McIlroy, one of the pros Rollup will be tasked with convincing, said Wednesday. “It doesn’t have to be another sport. Golf is golf, and that’s fine.”

McIlroy’s statement may be the kind of effort Rolapu might appreciate: He will be participating in this week’s DP World Tour event as India’s paid golf ambassador. McIlroy is just the latest pro to compete in the world’s most populous nation. The country is an untapped golf market that could deliver the kind of “global growth” its executives often tout.

he is talking about Something largely unrelated to Rohlapp’s transformative agenda in professional golf: Harsh attitudes that seem to permeate fan behavior in other sports are largely absent in golf.

However, the timing of McIlroy’s comments is somewhat intriguing. Before he got to India, his latest exposure to the NFL-ification of professional golf was at a hotly contested Ryder Cup event at Bethpage, where McIlroy and his wife were often the butt of crowd jeers, well beyond the typical behavior of a golf tournament. Even in that moment, McIlroy seemed disturbed by Bethpage’s behavior and its broader impact on his sport.

Now, as the tour embraces the NFL’s philosophy, McIlroy seems careful not to let his passion for golf’s development come at the expense of its personality.

“I think [golf] There’s definitely growth,” he said. “But you also want to maintain the tradition and values ​​of golf. “

Of course, there’s nothing to suggest that Rolup (or anyone at the PGA Tour) has an appetite for the PGA Tour’s Ryder Cup-style crowds every week. McIlroy has made his position as an agent of positive change in golf clear: In the early 2020s, he devoted much of his waking hours to maintaining the Tour’s stronghold in the wake of LIV’s invasion.

But was McIlroy’s answer a little political? Maybe.

“You don’t want your sport to be unwelcoming to new people. I definitely understand that,” McIlroy said. “But you also don’t want newcomers coming into the game and destroying the traditions and values ​​that the game has represented for centuries or what it stands for.”

In many ways, McIlroy’s comments exemplified the tightrope that Rolap and the rest of professional golf must walk now: innovate but not transcend, respect the past but not hold on too tightly.

This is the world the Tour signed up for as it ushered in the era of player equity from a group of outside investors. Rolup knows this is also the mountain he must climb in the Tour de France before he can claim the lead.

“I think there has to be a balance,” he said. “I certainly think golf can evolve, but it can evolve in a way that people who play the sport still respect and acknowledge that it’s a little bit different than other sports.”

Golf may be different, but it’s far from the only sport facing modernization debates. Basketball detonates the regular season and creates an “in-season championship.” Football created a new kick-off out of thin air. Baseball introduced pitch clocks and ghost runners as well as larger bases and replay reviews.

Some of these changes were accepted and even appreciated. Many were hated. It will be Rolap’s job to find that balance.

Our aim is to expand the size and popularity of the professional game, ensuring a significant windfall for everyone when the Tour’s next TV rights deal is made at the end of the decade. It’s an image that most people in golf — especially those who cash their checks on the PGA Tour — can appreciate.

But in golf, nothing is simpler than three letters. Not even close.