Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, August 7, 2026
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rollup emphasizes a strategy of honoring tradition while embracing innovation to drive the sport's growth, noting a significant increase in participation since COVID-19, particularly among younger demographics. He aims to bridge the gap between the sport's growing player base and its existing television viewership demographics.
“Well, I think any sport, professional sport that's worth its salt will always sort of challenge where it is. And I think there's one thing I learned at the NFL over two decades is you know, if you're not going forwards, you're going backwards in innovation matter. So 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. And you look at some of the trends of the game of golf, will as you say, maybe it has this reputation as elitist. If you look at the growth since COVID, participation in Golf in this country has grown thirty nine percent since COVID. Now you don't have to play a sport to watch it on television, but sure helps. Half of that growth is under the age of twenty or thirty five. The average age of a professional tour telecast, inclusive of the majors, is sixty six years old, so there is a disconnect between where the sport is going and what professional has 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.”