NBC Sports Production Split Across Atlantic for Open Championship By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Saturday, July 17, 2021 - 1:10 pm
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NBC's production of the Open Championship has always spanned the Atlantic as the Golf Channel team back home was always heavily involved. But this year the entire production is spanning the Atlantic more than ever with most of the production team in Stamford. The Open Championship is back, and we're thrilled to be broadcasting this major, says Ken Goss, EVP, studio/remote operations planning, NBC Sports. Once again safety continues to be our number one priority and producing the Open out of Stamford was our best alternative this year.
The NBC golf production team for the Open Championship is split, with 55 people at Royal St. George and 125 working from Stamford.
NBC golf producer Tommy Roy says the pandemic is still creating issues, leading to a significant downsize of on-site crew.
We are taking the world feed pictures and splitting our announce team into two, he says. The guys who normally work on the on-site announce towers are here in a studio here in Stamford and our walking announcers, interviewers, will be coming from Royal St. George (To read more about the world feed production click here).
Allison McAllister, NBC Sports VP, golf operations, says about 55 people are in Royal St. George, including both the Live From team and those working on the tournament. Lisa McLeod, NBC Sports, director, operations and production, is playing a big role overseas along with Alice Cutler, NBC Sports, production manager.
We couldn't do it without her and then we have the technical geniuses and Craig [Bernstein, NBC Sports VP, Remote Technical Operations and Engineering] team that have been absolutely amazing, so we've been beyond fortunate, she says. But at the end of the day it is about keeping everyone safe and doing was it best.
McAllister says that 125 people are working in Stamford, with Bridget Cugle, NBC Sports, senior production manager Kristen Moorby, NBC Sports, production manager working hand in hand with the rest of the team to create a seamless production.The main production team is working in Mobile TV Group's Flex 39 which is parked outside of the NBC Sports broadcast center in Stamford. The truck was always scheduled to be used for the Olympics golf production so the decision was made to have it arrive a week early so that it could be at the center of the Open production.
We're using the control room for the main production, the audio room is our main audio, and then video is also being run out of there, says Keith Kice, NBC Sports, senior director, technical operations. It worked out great because we have done a lot of the interfacing by putting graphics in an outside trailer. When we walk out after the Open it will be halfway [setup] for the Olympics.
NBC Sports has 55 personnel on site at Royal St. George for the Open Championship.
A NEWBERT flypack at Royal St. George as it is the front engine for getting signals back to the team in Stamford (those signals are all PAL with conversion done in Stamford). Marc Caputo, NBC Sports, director, technical operations says the 16 IP paths that have historically been used for the Live From coverage are being used this year to send back multi-viewer signals (two with 16 sources and one with nine that are each placed into the Flex 39 monitor wall, unilateral camera signals (from three handhelds, three minis, and three hard cameras), as well as access to the Hawk-Eye servers. NBC's Hawk-Eye operator is in Oklahoma and has access to the Hawk-Eye servers in the UK and he can have replays sent directly to Stamford.
If we ever needed to go back and get a shot we have access to it, says Bernstein. So, we're backing ourselves up with sources and are in good shape for not being there.
The Live From sources have been scaled back to eight (plus a Live U signal) and those run through NEWBERT to Stamford where tech managers take control of the paths. Caputo says CTV's OB9 truck is at Royal St. George and supplementing NEWBERT with video shading for the Live From' cameras and the six dedicated NBC cameras.
Since the pandemic began the NBC Sports team has had plenty of experience working remotely and Bernstein says they have gotten well accustomed to it.
Technically it has gotten to the point where it is pretty transparent to the guys in the production gallery, he says. And the energy of the show is coming from the fans being back on the course. But we've gotten pretty proficient at being able to move operators to different parts of the world and still have it feel like a coherent production.
Tom Popple, NBC Sports, VP, studio and facility operations, adds that the commentators are also getting used to working remotely and the goal is to give them the best environment possible to do their job.
Dan Hicks was here to do the French Open as well with Mary Carillo and we're also doing it this way for the Tour de France, he says. Everybody is happy with their set ups and it's as good as it can be.
Roy says that while it is obviously not ideal, the world feed, produced with more than 140 cameras, is top notch.
The world feed is excellent and is headed up by Jim Storey, one of my great friends in this business, says Roy. The world feed is going to be great, but it is different than the customized telecast that I normally would produce for our American audience. They are the primary feed for all of the UK, plus they have their international clients from around the world that they're catering to, as well.
He says interacting with the overseas announcers won't be too different from being in the production cabin at the Open and pressing the button to their head
