SVG All-Stars: Danny Kopilnick, Director, Remote Operations, CBS Sports The Ithaca College grad has emerged as a key leader on CBS Sports' golf team By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 - 10:30 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In an era when sports production is evolving faster than ever, a new generation of leaders is beginning to make its mark on the industry. Our new SVG All-Stars series explores the journey of the industry's rising executives, showcasing their experiences and career highlights in the business, overarching philosophy and leadership strategy, technological and creative innovation, and where they see the industry headed. Join us as we uncover the story behind their ascent and the impact they are having in an ever-evolving industry.
In live sports production and operations, you have to be ready for anything. On even the biggest, most successful remote live productions, things can - and will - go wrong. When those unforeseen challenges do arise, you want a cool customer like Danny Kopilnick.
Daniel Kopilnick, here at last year's Masters Tournament, has been a fixture behind the scenes at CBS Sports since 2016.
Kopilnick started his journey in the industry in 2015 with stints at Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball Advanced Media before becoming a media-asset manager for CBS Sports Network. At CBS Sports, he quickly climbed the ranks, filling such roles as broadcast associate, operations coordinator, unit manager, and production manager. He ascended to his current role as director of remote operations in 2022. These days, he's a critical member of the broadcaster's golf team, managing operations behind the scenes of events as big as The Masters, the PGA Championship, and other major PGA TOUR stops.
With the PGA TOUR set to return to CBS this weekened, we sit down with Kopilnick in the latest edition of SVG All-Stars to highlight the journey of his career, get his take on why it's important to remain calm in chaos when working in operations, and to get his advice for making an impact in one's first jobs in this industry.
What are the key responsibilities of your current role?
As one of our directors of remote operations, I oversee the pre-planning, onsite, and post-event logistics of all our golf events, including The Masters, the PGA Championship, and the PGA TOUR. I also oversee some specialty NFL projects, including the Nickelodeon simulcasts.
Kopilnick oversees remote-operations teams for CBS Sports' golf coverage. Here he's at the 2023 TOUR Championship with lead golf producer Sellers Shy.
I work directly with our production and technical teams to ensure our broadcasts have all the aspects of what make them look great. Essentially, our team is charged with making sure everyone has what they need onsite to produce the shows at the highest level. Those aspects include credentials, parking, catering, travel, personnel onsite, camera positions and structures, compound integration with vendors and other networks, and many more. I work with incredible people to help manage all these shows; they are the best at what they do.
What one key industry trend do you believe is having a major impact on your organization right now?
One challenge that every industry faces is rising costs. Everyone wants to put forth the best product within the scope of their budget. The product is the most important thing, and finding solutions that are budget-friendly yet won't negatively impact the product can be difficult. The operations, production, and technical teams at CBS Sports all do an incredible job working together to ensure we have the highest-quality broadcasts while finding the best solutions that meet our budget requirements.
Kopilnick works on special projects during the NFL season, including the Nickelodeon alternative broadcast of this month's AFC Wildcard game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans. Here, he's onsite with colleagues (from left) Emily Sandor, Jill Calandra, Meaghan McConnell, and Jessica Van Valkenburg.
What is one core philosophy you try to live by when managing your team/operation?
Calm in chaos. We work in live events, and things are going to go wrong, and things are going to be hectic. But, as a leader on the operations team, where most problems land at your feet, being able to be calm, process information, and act accordingly is of the utmost importance. People will react better to your decisions, and you'll be better able to articulate what needs to happen, if you remain calm in those moments.
What is your favorite event(s) you've ever worked?
My favorite event all-time that I've worked must be the 2019 Masters. It was my first year working The Masters, Tiger's incredible comeback to winning his fifth green jacket, and my first real opportunity to work one of CBS's major events. I was a small part of a huge broadcast, but it felt great to be a part of that team, and I knew I wanted to work in Augusta every year for the rest of my career.
Other highlights must be the Nickelodeon NFL games, including last year's Super Bowl; PGA Championships; and my favorite stops on the PGA TOUR: Farmers Insurance Open (La Jolla, CA), Genesis Invitational (Pacific Palisades, CA), and RBC Heritage (Hilton Head, SC).
How did you get started in sports production? What was your first real job in the business?
I was an intern in the remote-production department for CBS Sports Network the summer after my sophomore year of college. I knew how much I wanted to be in the sports-TV business, and it led me to work as a PA on CBS Sports Network remotes and studio shows while I was home from college the following two years before graduating.
Once I graduated, I worked as a logger at Major League Soccer and as a PA at MLB Advance
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
17/10/2025
Austin PBS has recently upgraded its facility-wide communications infrastructure, deploying Clear-Com 's Eclipse HX, FreeSpeak II beltpacks, and V-Series ...
17/10/2025
ZEISS announces an open call for the closed BETA testing phase of CinCraft Virtual Lens Technology, the innovative digital tool that brings authentic lens chara...
17/10/2025
Situated in the town of Kokkola, Centria University of Applied Sciences offers higher education across five core fields: engineering, business, social and healt...
17/10/2025
Public information channel in Georgia, USA, to implement a powerful, simple, and cost-effective playout automation platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, co...
17/10/2025
HBO Max is reporting that it has launched in 15 new markets, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Macau, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ukraine, boosting the streaming serv...
17/10/2025
Netflix said it will make a major push into video podcasts, inking a wide-ranging deal with Spotify through which it will offer 16 podcasts in the U.S. starting...
17/10/2025
Lexington, Ky. As part of a push to highlight its advanced advertising capabilities, Viamedia has launched a new AI-powered ad tech platform and officially rebr...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK QuickLink has announced the release of StudioPro Version 4, which the company is calling the most significant upgrade yet to its flagship video product...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, Calif. Apple and NBCUniversal said they will sell Apple TV and Peacock streaming bundles to U.S. subscribers starting Oct. 20....
SVG All-Stars: Danny Kopilnick, Director, Remote Operations, CBS Sports The Ithaca College grad has emerged as a key leader on CBS Sports' golf team By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
