Live from the U.S. Open: Brad Cheney of Fox Sports on the Evolution of the Open Compound By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Saturday, June 15, 2019 - 6:17 pm
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Last year's U.S. Open at Shinnecock saw two developments with respect to compound layout that have carried over this year. First, space constraints required some of the personnel and operations (like camera and audio support) to be moved to a Technology Tent that is located closer to the course (for more on this year's Tent click here). But another change was moving beyond a compound full of office trailers lined up next to each other. Instead Cheney and Sarita Meinking, director, field operations, combined multiple trailers into a single open space, literally breaking down the walls between departments like operations, production, digital, PR, and more.
Brad Cheney and Penelope Prior at the U.S. Open where they oversee a team of more than 600.
We did the math and saw we were spending money building stairs and platforms and also wasting space, says Brad Cheney, Fox Sports, VP, field operations and engineering. We just said why not smash the trailers together?
This year's Operations Complex is a bit smaller and is comprised of seven trailers, three for operations and four for production, digital operations, PR, and marketing.
It's a massive bonus for us because you don't need to walk out of a trailer and down and upstairs to talk to someone, says Cheney. It's all in this zone so there is no running around to different places and it's a huge benefit to be operating this way.
There are three key partners for Fox Sports. Game Creek Video which provides the production facilities, CP Communications which handles fiber and RF infrastructures, and Filmwerks which handles power needs.
The Fox Sports compound at the U.S. Open features an operations hub that combines both operations and production personnel.
Game Creek, CP Communications, and Filmwerks are amazingly collaborative parts of our package and we couldn't ask for better partners as they are doing things for us that I honestly don't know if other vendors would do for us, says Cheney.
The core of Fox Sports U.S. Open coverage has been mobile units from Game Creek Video, specifically Encore A, B, and C which have been at the center of all five of the network's U.S. Open broadcasts.
We have more cameras and more audio, but the core technology is still running on a truck that is now doing its fifth U.S. Open and it's amazing to see the evolution, says Cheney. Game Creek has done an amazing job keeping up with us and the truck has a great design. It's at the core of our world here and there is also some new engineering leadership from Game Creek, Dan Nabors, Jr. and Mike Ryan, who are doing a phenomenal job keeping the ship straight and working with us on a shorter turn around than usual.
Pride A and B are also on site, handling audio submix, super slo-mo replay, graphics, HDR video support, engineering, and an emergency production area.
We did cut down one B unit as we are doing two of the three digital feeds back in Charlotte, says Cheney. Featured holes, however, are done here because its and HDR show and it's easier to manage and control from here.
(l-to-r) Todd Parsons, Bryce Boob, and Carlos Gonzalez inside the fiber cabin at the U.S. Open.
Making all of it work is a massive fiber infrastructure that is overseen by Carlos Gonzalez, Fox Sports, technical producer, and his team. CP Communications worked alongside the Fox team for the installation of the fiber cable which measures more than 50 miles. Gonzalez and his team manage the fiber from a fiber cabin located near the Technology Tent.
We have over 550 strands of fiber from the main compound coming here and then from here we have 144 strands to the Tech Tent and then 144 to the back of the course and the rest spread out from the driving range to 18 green and all the way to 7 green, says Gonzalez. And this year we also have a few fiber strands from the house so in case the trunk line goes offline we have a back-up and true redundancy. The operation this year is 10 times better than last year.
Cheney gives props to the Fox team. It's a phenomenal group, he says. Production Manager Penelope Prior is here for a second year running the event and we couldn't be happier with what she has been able to do. And then Nicole Perrin is managing the Women's and Senior Opens around this event as we can't all be together. But the whole operations team and the people they have pulled in have been phenomenal and really made our lives easier. It's very difficult to grasp the fact that they are putting more than 600 people in hotel rooms and credentials for the over 700 that are actually working the show. And then add on that we are a mile from the course, and they are managing that between themselves, the operations support team, and the runners they have really been phenomenal.
Cheney also credits tech producers Doug Fuchs, Zaque Meyers, Ron McGugins and Kevin Walter who manage the production control rooms for keeping things moving each day across the two production centers in Pebble and the other two in Charlotte, NC over 2,300 miles away. They are supported by Gonzalez, who oversees the fiber infrastructure and field techs, along with Pete Chalverus, who oversees the audio and camera teams, the camera tower placement with Steve Beim and the USGA.
He's been great, says Cheney. And Carlos has been managing our fiber for this event since 2015 and there is no one better who knows how to run cable across a course, do it professionally, and the grounds crews love him. And not only that but he is technically one of the smartest fiber people in the country, so he is not only developing the
