As the National Football League eyes a massive increase in media rights fees, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp believes that the media rights market outside the NFL is becoming increasingly uncertain.
Rolapp made the comments on the CNBC show Squawk Box.
The PGA Tour CEO noted that the NFL is looking to double its media rights fees as the league begins to renegotiate its broadcast deals this summer, several years before its opt-out options in 2029 and 2030. Rolapp served as the Executive Vice President of NFL Media from 2014 to 2025.
If the NFL does succeed in doubling its rights fees, “that just doesn’t leave a lot of money out for everyone else,” says Rolapp.
Pretty insightful from Rolapp on CNBC this morning. Asked about his biggest downside surprise since taking the job and starts talking about the media rights market.
Notes the U.S. market is at $30B and the NFL takes up $12, a number that likely will increase substantially in its… pic.twitter.com/3gBvLshgbP
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) March 19, 2026
The PGA Tour commissioner is not the first executive to make this point. Olek Loewenstein, Univision’s global president of sports, told Sports Business Journal that “every single non-premium right in the U.S. is going to struggle” as a result of NFL negotiations.
The number of legacy media rights bidders is also decreasing. The purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Global means that TNT Sports is no longer bidding independently for rights. That results in one less option for leagues looking to sell their media rights.
Media rights are a crucial revenue stream for these leagues, and seeing growth in revenue is important for long-term stability. But chasing media dollars in a tough market often leads to deals that prioritize maximizing revenue over making telecasts accessible for fans.
Major League Soccer and NASCAR offer clear examples. MLS find themselves on Apple TV, with its limited user base, and NASCAR has spread its races across as many different cable networks as possible. For NASCAR, that fragmentation is especially noticeable. There will be weekends this summer where Cup Series practice and qualifying air on truTV, the Truck Series is on FS1, the O’Reilly Series is on The CW, and the actual Cup Series race is on USA Network.
Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, both of which have significant ties to cable TV, seem most likely to be impacted by the squeeze in the near term. Both have their media rights coming up in 2028, and the NHL is eager to beat the NFL to the negotiating table. If they chase money, games could end up on niche streaming services or be used to prop up cable. But if they don’t, the leagues are leaving a lot of money on the table.
Rolapp admits that while the PGA Tour is “strong and growing, it still could be stronger.” As a result, the PGA Tour is continuing to look at ways to appeal to core fans while also growing new fans.
MLB, for its part, has worked on growing the World Baseball Classic, in which it has a significant stake. It was able to sell the rights to the tournament to Netflix in Japan for $100 million.
Leagues will need to continue to find unique ways to maintain media rights revenues as the NFL squeeze continues.