NBC Sports Rolls Out 70 Cameras for U.S. Open Coverage; Producer Tommy Roy Says Graphics Play Big Part Two drones provide aerial support; tracers, graphics reveal challenge of domed greens By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, June 13, 2024 - 12:03 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2024 U.S. Open calls the Pinehurst No. 2 course in Pinehurst, NC, home, one of the true legendary tracks in the U.S. and a true challenge for the golfers. One of the challenges for the NBC team is to make clear to viewers just how challenging the course is for the world's best golfers.
To do that, 70 cameras are being deployed, and the production team uses graphics to give viewers a real sense of the greens, many of which are like an upside-down cereal bowl.
Tiger Woods is the biggest draw for fans and viewers on Day 1 of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
It's going to be crucial for us to help the people at home understand what the golfer faces trying to land a golf ball on these greens from long distances away, said Tommy Roy, lead producer, NBC Golf, prior to the start of the tournament. We will have significant graphics to show that, not only setting it up before the golf ball is hit but also while the ball is in the air.
The NBC Sports golf production team is working out of NEP's ND2 A, B, C, and D units as well as Supershooter 4's A, B, and C units (the USGA is producing the world feed out of Supershooter 8).
As for high-flying drones, NBC Sports has two drones: one at the first tee, putting range, and clubhouse area; the other following the leaders on the course.
At the Phoenix Open earlier this year, said Roy, we had a second drone that we added in the area [around the 16th hole], where in the past we've had a Flycam. It allowed us to get many more unique angles, and we repeated that at THE PLAYERS at the 16th- and 17th-hole area. We will continue that at the Open.
Key to making sure everyone - golfers, caddies, fans, tournament officials - is comfortable with the drones is to use small drones, which make less noise than the large ones.
Ben McClung [owner, Sky Realty Productions] is the drone operator, said Roy. He uses a much smaller drone that is also quieter. He played golf at Vanderbilt with Brandt Snedeker, so he's very familiar with the game. We have never had any issues with players' being distracted by the drones. You just have to be very careful about when they fly and make sure that they're out of eyesight of the players; if they're quiet, you can do that.
Among other tech toys, tracers are used on every hole, but, at 4 and 14, where the tee shots are downhill, the tracers look down on the tee shot, allowing the viewer to see where the ball is headed in the distance.
Bunker cams are used at Holes 6 and 13. In addition, a Jita tracer at Holes 8 and 18 not only tracks the ball in flight but also zooms with the ball, which Roy described as quite a cool effect.
He also noted a rail cam at the 17th green, which is a pretty crazy green, lengthy with a lot of undulation. This rail cam will be able to show that from a really cool angle.
Viewers can expect 47 hours of tournament coverage on NBC and upwards of 300 hours of content available via NBC, Golf Channel, and Peacock over the week.
We have 19 announcers, Roy pointed out. The goal is that, when we get to Sunday afternoon, when everything is on the line, our top guys are fresh and ready to call the dramatic finish that we hope we get.
This year's U.S. Open is the first to reflect a new philosophy in managing the talent. We've gone to this odd-even method, where there's a play-by-play paired with an analyst, says Sam Flood, executive producer/president, production, NBC Sports. For the prime hours from the U.S. Open, [play-by-play announcer] Dan Hicks is paired with [analyst] Brandel Chamblee, and [play-by-play announcer] Mike Tirico is paired with [analyst] Brad Faxon. That system has worked very well, the concept being that Dan and Mike take care of context and what is going on the course, giving historical perspective; why the golfer is being successful or what they're thinking about on the shot gets handled by the analysts.
The big news with respect to on-course reporting is the return of Jim Bones Mackay. We're thrilled that Bones is back with the team here, says Flood. He will be part of NBC Sports for years to come; we're going to partner for a long time with him. Two other adds to our group are Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch: Roger will be walking the course, and Gary will be in the tower in an earlier shift.
Another personnel addition is Mark Loomis, who was producer of golf coverage for FOX Sports. He will be joining us as the producer of the morning coverage this time around, said Roy. I'm in the afternoon, so you've got the two guys that have produced every single U.S. Open since 1995 doing the shows, which I think is pretty cool.
In fact, he added, several team members are marking their 25th U.S. Open. For me and Dan Hicks, this will be our 25th U.S. Open, going all the way back to 1995, when we started. Tom Randolph, my co-producer, and Greg Katz, our editorial guy, and about a dozen of our technicians have done every single U.S. Open that [NBC has broadcast] during that time.
North America Stories
20/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Cisco and the USGA have announced a multiyear extension of their partnership, which began in 2018. Cisco serves as the Official Technology Partner of the USGA, ...
19/05/2026
Urban Edge Network (UEN), a streaming platform for NAIA sports, has announced a partnership with Spiideo to provide streaming and production tools to UEN's ...
19/05/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will provide live coverage of all 900 Roland-Garros matches across its platforms beginning with qualifiers on May 18. In Europe, 21...
19/05/2026
Tubi, Fox Corporation's free streaming service, has announced the launch of the FIFA World Cup 2026 FOX Hub, a dedicated destination for World Cup programmi...
19/05/2026
Telef nica, in collaboration with Sony, has conducted a 5G connectivity trial at the Movistar Arena in Spain using the 26 GHz millimetre wave (mmWave) band. The...
19/05/2026
Ross Production Services (RPS) has installed a Calrec Argo M console into its new Hypermax-1 remote production truck, replacing one of three Argo S consoles pre...
19/05/2026
Panasonic Projector and Display Corporation has announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of UK-based media technology company Hive Media Control Ltd. (HI...
19/05/2026
Globecast has announced the completion of a nine-month renovation of its Singapore facility, converting it from a traditional linear broadcast operation into a ...
19/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadc...
19/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Watch Brasil, a streaming platform operating across Brazil and Europe since 2018, has replaced its legacy systems with Bitmovin'...
19/05/2026
Ateme has announced the migration of Dish Home Nepal's Nepal Premier League (NPL) streaming infrastructure to Ateme's TITAN Live solution deployed on Ak...
19/05/2026
CMSI provided workflow, media management, and HDR support for ESPN during coverage of the NCAA Gymnastics Semifinals and Championships. The company supported fi...
19/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...
19/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...
19/05/2026
Featuring a fully IP infrastructure, Supershooter 11 is intended for large-scale events. Enabling remote and distributed workflows, Supershooter 65 joins the RE...
19/05/2026
By Jessica Herndon
The line wrapped around the building outside Denver's La...
19/05/2026
When all companies in the market are allowed to compete under the same set of ru...
19/05/2026
Battle-proven technology withstands electronic warfare threats across air, maritime surface and subsea domains....
19/05/2026
WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR systems provide high-precision targeting across domains, including counter-UAS applications...
19/05/2026
Champaign, IL - March 16, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufa...
19/05/2026
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. April 16, 2026 - Cobalt Digital today announced a partnership ...
19/05/2026
Las Vegas - April 18, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufactur...
19/05/2026
LAS VEGAS April 18, 2026 - Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital are ...
19/05/2026
LAS VEGAS - May 4, 2026 - Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiativ...
19/05/2026
London - 11 May 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Grass Valley has entered into a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadcast Solutions as the Singapore-based company expands its live production oper...
19/05/2026
Clear-Com supported Musikal Perahu Kertas, a large-scale musical theater production in Indonesia adapted from the acclaimed novel by Dee Lestari, through the d...
19/05/2026
Actus Digital, a LiveU company, and a leading provider of intelligent media monitoring and broadcast compliance platforms, announced today that METEO CONSULT ha...
19/05/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of managed services for the broadcast and media industry, today announced the completion of a major renovation of its Singapore fa...
19/05/2026
Following a major upgrade to its Connecticut remote production centre with the installation of three 60-fader Argo S consoles in 2023, RPS has switched one of t...
19/05/2026
PlayBox Technology today announced the launch of Celebro Play, a browser-based media orchestration platform designed specifically for broadcast facilities and p...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
LYNX Technik, provider of modular signal processing solutions for broadcast, post, and professional AV will showcase its latest signal processing solutions at B...
19/05/2026
Media Links, a leading developer and manufacturer of IP media transport solutions, has announced the integration of its Xscend platform with Skyline Communicat...
19/05/2026
Collaboration expands regional partner ecosystem as Media Links showcases IP media transport solutions on stand 4M4-4 and alongside Clearcast Asia on stand
Me...
19/05/2026
Company Highlights Labor-Saving Control and Custom Branding Opportunities Designed to Increase Integrator Profitability
LynTec, a leading manufacturer of ele...
19/05/2026
Mago Studio Moves AI Video Beyond Prompts with New Production-Focused Tools
Brie Clayton May 18, 2026
0 Comments
New Capabilities Bring Controllable, ...
19/05/2026
It May be Time to Stop and Take an AI Breather
Brie Clayton May 19, 2026
0 Comments
If the rock you stay on starts to roll, jump clean. Or you'll...
19/05/2026
At this year's Google I/O conference, NVIDIA and Google Cloud are accelerating the work of more than 100,000 developers in the companies' joint develope...
19/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for RAFA, the Documentary Series A...
19/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Consumer Products Footprint with Strategic Con...
NBC Sports Rolls Out 70 Cameras for U.S. Open Coverage; Producer Tommy Roy Says Graphics Play Big Part Two drones provide aerial support; tracers, graphics reveal challenge of domed greens By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
