CBS Sports' PGA Championship Production Spans the Globe; Embraces Drones, Toptracer, 4D Replay Working safe and smart with ESPN, NEP, and Game Creek enables large compound to be realized By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Thursday, August 6, 2020 - 10:52 am
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For CBS Sports and anyone involved in covering the PGA, this year has been a year unlike any other: the Majors schedule was shuffled, events were canceled, and fans have yet to return to any professional golf events. And that is why the production plan CBS Sports has put together for the PGA Championship, which begins today at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, is so important: it signals the return to producing a sports event in a big way.
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To my knowledge, this is the biggest remote sporting coverage since the whole pandemic began, says Mike Francis, VP, remote engineering and planning, CBS Sports. We have a very robust compound with 22 mobile units, a two-story tech structure, and office trailers. We're out here with fewer people, but, if you didn't see the masks and other protocols, you would think it was a regular PGA Championship.
NEP Supershooter CBS is handling back-nine coverage; Game Creek Video's Encore, the front nine. NEP ND7 will have a split role: two control rooms for ESPN's two featured groups in the A unit, audio and replay in the B unit for one featured group, and audio and replay in the C unit for the other. Other units will handle replay overflow, graphics, and other functions although the production, like all CBS golf productions since the pandemic, will involve personnel located across the country and even New Zealand, where ARL will insert virtual graphics.
The 4D Replay system will capture tee shots on the 14th hole during the PGA Championship.
According to Harold Bryant, EVP/SVP, production, CBS Sports, some of the technical highlights this year include the return of the 4D Replay system on the 14th hole (marking the system's return to the PGA Championship), a 700-ft. point-to-point FlyCam system that will cover the driving range and practice area, and the AR graphics.
Many of the production elements - most of the Toptracer, ARL, editing, video shading, and additional replay devices (including four new multichannel Hawkeye systems) - will be handled from remote locations. CBS Sports professionals in California, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Maine, Colorado, and New Zealand (where ARL will handle virtual graphics) will be tied into the facilities at Harding Park.
A two-story tech building is on site at TPC Harding to handle production demands for the PGA Championship.
For example, a production team at The Switch will handle Toptracer duties, with the ball-tracking system used on all 18 holes.
We will have 11 people handling Toptracer, handling signals from three RF Toptracer systems that are roving the fairway, and four video shaders, says Francis.
Mobile units in Stamford, CT, will also be in use for the nightly highlight show Clubhouse Report.
We have a set onsite at Harding Park with two talent and interview locations just off set, says Francis. It will be produced and directed out of Stamford.
CBS Sports production features a FlyCam running along the back of the driving range as well as virtual graphics that can be inserted onto the range.
Farthest afield will be ARL, which will operate the Virtual Eye augmented and virtual graphics from its office on New Zealand's South Island. Coverage on all holes (except the par 3s) will be increased, with Virtual Eye using Toptracer ball-tracking capabilities on tee shots within a 3D hole model while showing the golfer hit shots from the tee. Virtual flyover animations also return, giving a second-shot perspective once the ball comes to rest; GolfTrax information will provide key statistical information on each player.
Drones Cover the Course Without fans on the course, CBS Sports has been able to embrace the use of live drone coverage at PGA tournaments this year, and CBS will have multiple state-of-the-art drones as a live camera source for coverage of TPC Harding Park, providing unique views during the action.
One of the Kaze Aerial drones that will be in use for the PGA Championship.
Drones cover the course for different perspectives, says Bryant, so the coverage is going to be as good as or better than any PGA Championship coverage.
Francis adds that drones have been a great addition to CBS Sports golf coverage since the pandemic put an end to golf events with fans. Kaze Aerials is providing the drones.
We have more freedom on where we can fly them, he explains. Drones were always in the plan for the PGA Championship. We have two different drone systems and will be keeping them over the water and various safe areas.
Scenic flyovers of the course were prerecorded, and Francis says the production team has done a great job working live drone coverage creatively into earlier PGA coverage.
He is looking forward to working with the FlyCam system, which provides some additional flexibility compared with other point-to-point systems. It can be lowered and raised so you can get it down to about a foot off the ground, he explains. That is a lot more versatility than the systems we have used in the past. It will give us some nice moves covering the range.
CBS will bring back 4D Replay on the 14th hole. Deployed for the first time on a U.S. golf broadcast at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive, an array of cameras border the tee box to offer a 180-degree view around the player to provide a thorough breakdown of the swing (the 4D Replay system in other applications can offer a 360-degree look).
FlyCam is making its PGA Championship debut.
Jim Nantz, lead play-by-play announcer, highlights the importance of th
