Live from the 2023 Ryder Cup: NBC Golf Team Goes Remote; Shares Studio Ops with Sky Sports

Live from the 2023 Ryder Cup: NBC Golf Team Goes Remote; Shares Studio Ops with Sky Sports By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Sunday, October 1, 2023 - 3:38 am

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NBC Sports coverage of the 2023 Ryder Cup from Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside of Rome has gone remote this year, the first time NBC's golf team has worked this way from Europe since the 2021 Open Championship in the midst of the pandemic. For that event the team in Stamford worked out of two remote production trucks while this time around the operations is centered around PCR2.

Samantha Ruby and Marc Caputo of NBC Sports at the Ryder Cup are ensuring signals get back to the production team in Stamford.

We're using PCR2 in Stamford, one of two venue control rooms that were upgraded in Stamford for golf, and it's been doing Golf Channel tournaments, says Marc Caputo, NBC Sports, senior director, remote technical operations. But this is the first time it's doing a show for [NBC Lead Golf Producer] Tommy Roy so there's more people and some more toys.

Caputo says the World Feed, produced by European Tour Productions (ETP) is at the center of NBC's coverage.

We have additional cameras for NBC including four RF cameras, a booth camera, and then access to all the ETP cameras using EMG routers controlled in Stamford, he says. In addition, ACS is providing three robotic cameras that are shared by Live From' and NBC and are also available to Sky. Live From has the four Telemetric cameras on the set as well as a Rover camera.

There are also two Live U units for Live From ENG coverage like walk-and-talk interviews with players during practice sessions.

We also have an LU 800 that provides four backup cell-based transmission paths as we were able to get some shared fiber connectivity with Sky, he says.

The toys this year include Top Tracer and ARL technology as part of the host feed, and a SMT NBCit Telestrator in Stamford that allows the production team to zoom in on any lay of a ball in additional EVS and Hawkeye support.

The Golf Channel shows have three EVS operators while for this we have four plus relief, says Caputo. And then we partner with ETP on the Hawkeye system and upgrade it, so we have access to all feeds like World Feed program & clean feed, all the host cameras, and 4 NBC RF Cameras. We also added two output channels for dedicated playout to Stamford. Sharing that Hawkeye system seems to be working out well.

Key to the efforts are eight router paths EMG is providing between the compound and Stamford that allow for EVS operators to have all the signals they need.

They give the Stamford team access to all the cameras and microphones so they can cut tees and greens as if they were on site, says Caputo. And then we have another three sources that split control so the TD can control the video and the audio department controls the audio.

Caputo says all the necessary signals are sent back to Stamford using two NBC Newbert flypacks as well new IP transmission kit that debuted at the PGA Championship in Rochester, NY.

Newbert One is here as usual for Live From' on Golf Channel, and then we have Baby NewBert doing the unilateral coverage of the tournament, says Caputo. The challenge is getting all the transmission paths back to Stamford at the same time so we're using the IP transmission kit f (24 paths) and Live From' is using sixa J2K paths for transmission and everything is first sent to Sky Sports in the UK and then gets handed off to Stamford.

This is also the first Ryder Cup where The Golf Channel, and Sky Sports are sharing a full studio set with four cameras. Sky did the set design while the two lighting teams worked together to come up with a single lighting plan. Sky Sports makes use of the set first thing in the morning as the sun rises while The Golf Channel is on set between the sessions and then at the end of the day's action.

At the Ryder Cup in Whistling Straits we used a platform on the Sky Studio at night, but it wasn't like this where we are sharing the full studio, says Caputo. They're using our Telemetrics robotic cameras and we're operating and shading the cameras here for them.

Samantha Ruby, NBC Sports, remote technical manager, says Newbert engineers are switching tallies and routing signals to monitors. Coordination has been key as, for example, on Thursday night there was an only a one-hour gap between when Live From went off air and Sky Sports went on air.

They have a different stage crew, but all the back-of-house operators and engineers are the same, she says.

Ruby says coordination of schedules was one of the ways things become a bit more complicated when working remotely, especially with respect to time zones.

Adds Caputo: The Stamford engineering & technical operations team needs to be applauded as they not only are supporting an event that requires them start a shift at 9 o'clock at night but then everything else that comes out of Stamford on a daily basis.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/10/01/live-from-the-2023-ryder-cup-nb...
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