How real is the possibility of a 20-event PGA Tour season? Explaining the future of the new tour<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWell, this is fan-based. We\u2019re trying to give the fans the best product we possibly can, and if we\u2019re able to give the fans the best product we can, I think we can make the players who have equity in the tour, we can give them more of that,\u201d Woods said at the Bahamas event. \u201cSo the financial windfall could be fantastic for everyone who\u2019s involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Golf Digest reported, some of the big-ticket items of a new theoretical schedule would include a later start to the season \u2013 specifically, right before or after the Super Bowl to avoid competing with the NFL\u2019s playoffs \u2013 the loss of the Hawaiian swing, a two-tiered system and more overlap with the DP World Tour on co-sanctioned events. Why this is happening now is nuanced. Rolapp has preached scarcity, and the idea that the tour\u2019s schedule is bloated is far from new. Additionally, the tour\u2019s private-equity investment, the Strategic Sports Group, is looking to recoup its funding \u2013 especially if Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund and its $US1.5 billion will no longer be a part of the tour\u2019s future \u2013 and one avenue to achieve that would be reducing the schedule.<\/p>\n
Woods did not get into specifics during his press conference, only mentioning the FCC has gone through numerous concepts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out what is the best schedule possible so we can create the best fields and have the most viewership and also the most fan involvement and what does that look like,\u201d Woods said. \u201cA lot of that, as you know, that\u2019s one of the reasons why we quit playing in September and October and even early November back when I was playing in my early days at the Tour Championship, there\u2019s this thing with the shield that\u2019s out there that\u2019s influential. Looking at different timetables of when we start and finish, different tent poles throughout the year and what that might look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some incredibly smart player directors, some independents and some leaders that have led in change in other sports. So trying to pull all of that together with Brian\u2019s leadership and stewardship, that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to implement all these different things. Again, create a product that players want to be involved in, will be involved in, they\u2019re excited to be a part of and the fans and all of our partners at all of our events and all the people that are involved in the sport, that this is a better product.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are numerous hurdles that remain for any potential changes: how to satisfy existing media deals while negotiating new ones, working with tournament sponsors (especially those endorsing an event that may see a relegation of sorts), the fact that Rolapp is so new to the space, and the background threat of LIV Golf. Woods said that the FCC is not working in a vacuum, attempting to get everyone that could be involved or affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve had three different meetings, we\u2019ve got one coming up here. We\u2019ve torn down and looked at so many different models,\u201d Woods said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot. We\u2019ve talked to title sponsors, we talked to CMOs, we talked to tournament directors, we talked to media partners, we\u2019ve talked to a lot of different people and taken a lot in of what they would like to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it\u2019s up to us at the committee to try to put it all together and try to make it work and keep the players informed to what possibly could happen. And we want their opinions as well. We\u2019re being very transparent with all of this. That\u2019s something that we\u2019ve been very adamant and I\u2019ve been very adamant before about this process is the transparency side of it. This is something that\u2019s going to be fantastic for all of the fans, for the players. As I said, it could be a financial windfall for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given all the stakeholders involved, there are going to be hurt feelings and bruised egos. Woods, while again trying to underline many voices are involved in this decision, did point out the obvious: some folks are not going to be happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest with you, we started with a blank slate, what would the best product we can possibly create, what would it look like, OK? So you take a white sheet of paper and you start throwing ideas out there, and there\u2019s like a thousand ideas on this board,\u201d Woods said. \u201cThen you add in all the people that we interviewed and what would they like to see and you throw all those up there. Then we start talking to the players, what would they like to see, how can players can have the promotion relegation, how can we have more player equity involvement. These are all things that we\u2019re trying to include and all the things that we\u2019re trying to change. Yes, there\u2019s going to be some eggs that are spilled and crushed but \u2013 and broken, but I think that in the end we\u2019re going to have a product that is far better than what we have now for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
When English spoke last month, he mentioned the changes could be coming as early as 2027. As Golf Digest noted, that timeline seemed ambitious. Woods himself spoke of changes coming in \u201927-28; when asked a follow-up if 2027 was possible, Woods simply said the group is trying to reach that date.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to do that in the best way possible so we can introduce this in \u201927,\u201d Woods said. \u201cHopefully we get there, hopefully we get to that point. We\u2019re working with all of our partners to create the best schedule and product to deliver all that in \u201927 is something we\u2019re trying to do. I don\u2019t know if we can get there, I don\u2019t know if we will get there, but that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods, who sounds like he\u2019s nowhere closer to a competitive playing return after his latest surgery, was asked why he choose to help Rolapp with reshaping the tour\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PGA Tour gave me an opportunity to chase after a childhood dream. I got a chance to hit my first ball in my first PGA Tour event when I was 16 years old,\u201d Woods said. \u201cI know that\u2019s what, 33 years ago, but I\u2019ve been involved with the PGA Tour ever since then. A little kid from Cypress, California, growing up on a par 3 course got a chance to play against the best players in the world and make it to world No.1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a chance to be involved in a lot of different things on our tour. This is a different opportunity to make an impact on the tour. I did it with my golf clubs, I made a few putts here and there and was able to do that. Now I am able to make an impact in a different way for other generations to come. Not just generations that I played against, but for future generations like a 16-year-old looking for a place to play.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: David Cannon] Tiger Woods signalled that a major schedule transformation is coming to the PGA Tour, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,62094,755,138747,182475,44,1747,85,9244],"class_list":{"0":"post-324587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-brian-rolapp","12":"tag-golf","13":"tag-golf-digest","14":"tag-hero-world-challenge","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-pga-tour","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-tiger-woods"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}