Speaker Profile

Brian Rolapp was named by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell the Chief Media and Business Officer of the NFL in March of 2017. Rolapp had served as the Executive Vice President of NFL Media and President and CEO of NFL Network since March 2014, where he succeeded industry veteran Steve Bornstein. In his role as the Chief Media and Business Officer, Rolapp oversees all NFL Media businesses, including broadcasting, NFL Network, NFL Films, and NFL Digital Media. He leads the development, negotiation, and implementation of strategy of the NFL’s content rights, including television contracts and digital media rights. He also manages the NFL’s sponsorship, advertising sales and consumer products groups.

Rolapp has spearheaded some of the largest and most comprehensive arrangements with major corporations in NFL history. Rolapp oversaw the March 2021 long-term agreements with media partners Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, FOX, and NBC for the distribution of NFL games over television and digital platforms, as well as additional media rights, providing fans more ways to watch NFL games than ever before. Additionally, Rolapp helped devise and implement a significant change to NFL Sunday Ticket announced in December 2022, when the League entered a partnership with Google to distribute the product on YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels after being distributed via DirecTV’s satellite service since its inception in 1994. Under Rolapp’s leadership, his teams have secured licensing agreements with some of the biggest names in sports & media – Netflix, X, Meta, Snapchat, HBO, Nike, Fanatics, Electronic Arts, and more – and forged new ventures such as NFL+ and Skydance Sports.

Prior to his promotion to Executive Vice President of NFL Media and President and CEO of NFL Network, Rolapp was the Chief Operating Officer of NFL Media, where he developed the media group’s strategic plans and managed the NFL’s digital businesses, including NFL.com and the cross-platform licensing of NFL content. Before joining the NFL in 2003, Rolapp served as Director, Business Development for NBC Universal in New York, in which he was instrumental in NBC’s cable and new media strategies, including NBC’s acquisition of Vivendi Universal Entertainment’s cable assets USA Network, Sci-Fi and Trio. Rolapp was a member of the media investment banking team at CIBC World Markets prior to joining NBC Universal.

Rolapp is a graduate of Brigham Young University and the Harvard Business School. He is a member of Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame. Rolapp resides in Darien, Connecticut with his wife and four children.