The rumors about a massive PGA Tour shakeup started when Harris English hinted at the RSM Classic that the entire PGA calendar might shift to avoid the NFL.

“The talk of the Tour potentially starting after the Super Bowl, I think, is a pretty good thing because we can’t really compete with football,” English spilled the beans on a massive 2027 overhaul that sparked immediate panic among fans last week.

And now, the real confirmation came from the very top.

“Nothing’s been decided. I think Harris’s comments have been getting a lot of attention, but Harris’s comments really reflect a lot of conversations that have been going on. And if you dig deeper into what he said, it’s not that complicated,” Brian Rolapp said to Scott Wapner during the CNBC CEO Council Summit, about whether the Tour would really delay the season start.

Rolapp did not deny anything.

Instead, he explained, “Competing with football in this country, for media dollars and attention, is a really hard thing to do. Major League Soccer just moved its schedule around largely because of other things.”

So, the league is reportedly trying to optimize its schedule to avoid conflicts. However, Rolapp isn’t the only one who makes these massive decisions.

“If you go further upstream, what Harris is also referring to is ‘Future Competition Committee,’ which is chaired by Tiger Woods and is made up of a handful of players and some outside advisors, and is aimed at looking at the competitive product. With the idea of: How do we make it better for players, and for fans, and our partners?”

But one thing to note here is that Rolapp formed the committee in August with Tiger Woods (Chairman), Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, Joe Gorder, John Henry, and Theo Epstein, when he was new on the job.

Still, the question persists: Why is the change needed?

When the interviewer asked if Rolapp is seeing a universe where the golf season starts after the Super Bowl, after the NFL, so that the PGA Tour can have things on the deck.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Brian Rolapp responded.

Rolapp revealed that they conducted surveys through media partners, sponsors, and fans to understand how to improve the tour. With that, he explained his new vision in three specific words. Competitive Parity. Scarcity. Simplicity. The PGA Tour CEO believes these three aspects make sports leagues successful today.

But “the bad news is golf only has one, but it’s the hardest one to get.”

According to Rolapp, golf only has competitive parity. As the difference between the 10th and 50th best players in Golf is so tiny, and anyone out of the box can click any day that we have seen in the CME Group Tour Championship, when Pajaree Anannarukarn finished in second position, Rolapp’s point makes sense.

As the tour lacks scarcity and simplicity right now, Rolapp’s questions seem justified.

“How do you make scarce events that actually fans want to follow?”

The tour currently hosts over 40 events a year. The 2027 plan cuts that schedule to just 20 or 22 and turns every single tournament into a “Super Bowl” moment, which can be a way to optimize the schedule.

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But this ‘scarcity model’ may change everything we know

A February start date effectively kills the historic West Coast Swing.

The tour would likely skip the legendary Hawaii leg entirely. Even the famous Torrey Pines could vanish from the schedule.

Harris English hates this idea despite suggesting the schedule change and admitted, “It would kind of stink if those tournaments go away… Torrey Pines has been one of my favorites.”

Sponsors are already feeling the heat of this potential shift.

The Sentry at Kapalua is already canceled for 2026. Longtime partners like Sony and Farmers Insurance might lose their dates entirely. You cannot start in mid-February and still hit every traditional stop. The math simply does not work for everyone involved.

Plus, reducing the schedule to 20-something events locks out the underdogs. The tour has already cut cards from 125 to 100 for 2026. Fewer spots mean fewer dreams coming true for grinders, and the path to the top is getting narrower every year.

So, a journeyman golfer like English himself will struggle to find a place to play.

And the winter void will likely belong to new inventions like Tiger Woods TGL. It fills the TV gap on Monday nights during football season, where players will be visible without the grind of a full tournament.

Yet, the one huge positive is a schedule free from football. Golf ratings struggle massively against the NFL playoffs in January. Moving to February will stop fighting a losing battle against the NFL.