The PGA Tour has hired another NFL executive to a senior role as Brian Rolapp continues reshaping its leadership structure. Will Deng, the NFL’s head of corporate strategy who had been at the league for more than 11 years, has joined the tour as its new SVP/Media Strategy. The hiring of Deng, a 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, is believed to be one of a handful of moves at the PGA Tour’s senior level across other departments. Those hires are expected to come from across sports. When the tour laid off 4% of its staff earlier this year, SBJ reported it was expected to add more senior-level roles.
Deng, a Penn and MIT MBA grad, joins the tour as it hits a pivotal time on the media front and will be tasked with leading its long-term domestic strategy, among other priorities. Its current media agreements run through the 2030 season, though the PGA Tour is expected to go to market late in 2028. That’s against the backdrop of the tour going through major structural changes that begin with the 2028 season, as well as the NFL’s potential renegotiation of its rights deals in the coming years. Deng, who’s expected to split time between New York and Ponte Vedra Beach, will report to the tour’s EVP/Media, Norb Gambuzza.
In his time at the NFL, Deng managed some of its biggest projects. He worked on the league’s first foray into online streaming of a live game, a Jaguars-Bills London contest on Yahoo. He also built the tri-cast model, first with Twitter/X then later with Prime Video, to stream “Thursday Night Football” alongside cable and broadcast shows. That work eventually developed Amazon into a serious bidder for an exclusive package.
Other key current and former figures from the NFL hired by Rolapp include chief commercial officer Dhruv Prasad and communications head Paul Hicks.