Live From the 152nd Open: NBC Sports Set for Final Round, Expands Remote Operations for Top Tracer and Live From Cameras

21/07/2024

Live From the 152nd Open: NBC Sports Set for Final Round, Expands Remote Operations for Top Tracer and Live From Cameras As the Open Championship wraps up, all eyes turn to Paris for Olympics effort By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 4:42 am

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Heading into the final day of the Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland, the NBC Sports golf team is set to produce coverage for a tight final round (and with four Americans right in the mix), and the crew are also looking back with some nostalgia to the last time they were here, in 2016: this was the site of their first Open Championship production.

We are thrilled to be back and beyond lucky that we have an awesome relationship with the R&A, EMG/Gravity Media, and ETP, says Allison McAllister, VP, golf operations, NBC Sports. It was a seamless transition when we took over the rights in 2016, and, every year since, things have gotten better as we've tweaked little things here and there.

A two-story studio has optimal views of the 18th hole at Royal Troon in Scotland, home of the 152nd Open Championship.

For this year's coverage, NBC's unilateral cameras include six hard cameras on the course and two robotic cameras with long lenses on the 8th and 17th holes. In addition, there are four handhelds and three additional robos: one in the broadcast booth as a second camera, one on the range, and one on the putting range. The NBC production team, headed by Tommy Roy, lead golf producer, NBC Sports, also has access to the camera feeds captured by ETP for the world feed and cuts the show from a large control room in the center of the compound.

LiveU is in use as a backup to transmission and for scenic shots from historical and other notable locations in the area.

The two-story studio complex is home to both NBC Sports and Sky Sports.

This year, the team in Stamford, CT, is remotely controlling more of the elements than previously. We're using four Ross robotic cameras on the Live From set, and the team in Stamford is controlling them, explains Marc Caputo, senior director, remote technical operations, NBC Sports. This is also the first year Stamford is operating Top Tracer graphics remotely.

Also new this year is the Appear transmission kit that NBC used at the U.S. Open in June. That kit continues to evolve, he notes.

In one interesting production challenge this year, the actual golf coverage on NBC is 1080p SDR, but Live From is being shown in 1080p HDR. That means that shared camera signals are converted to 1080p SDR for integration within the SDR tournament coverage but are transmitted to Stamford as 1080p HDR for use in the Live From show.

Ready for Paris July is undoubtedly a monumental month for anyone who works at NBC Sports. It has comprised not only this Open but the Tour de France and, beginning late this week, the Summer Olympics in Paris. More than 40 staffers on the production team working on the Open Championship will head directly to Paris to work on the Olympics.

Some of the team - such as Samantha Ruby, remote technical manager, golf, NBC Sports - will be supporting golf at the Olympics. NBC's unilateral coverage will be produced out of Control Room 8 in Stamford, and Golf Central will have a presence. Other members will be involved in non-golf events.

Golf Central will be on-air from the Olympics every day from Monday, July 29 until Saturday, Aug, 10 after the women's play ends, says Ruby. We'll come on-air two hours after coverage is finished, and we'll have our entire engineering team there.

Some of NBC's equipment also is heading to Paris. The Newbert flypack will be deployed at the Le Golf National course near Versailles, where the women's and men's golf events will be held during the second week of the Games.

While Ruby is at golf, Bridget Cugle, director, golf operations, NBC Sports, will be serving as broadcast manager for swimming, with Roy once again heading up the swimming coverage for NBC.

McAllister will be wearing various hats during the Games, many very different from her current role on the golf side. The energy around an Olympics is electric, she points out. To be a part of all the excitement that surrounds the Games is special. You're there working together to bring this amazing event to life, get caught up in all the excitement, plus cheering on our country to bring home the gold. It's quite an adrenaline rush.

For those working on both the Open and the Olympics, there have been plenty of calls in the midst of Open coverage to nail down Olympics preparation. It's nice to be in the same time zone as our team in Paris, Cugle says. We have calls pretty much daily, and, when I get to Paris on Monday, we'll be ready to go.

McAllister gives a shoutout to EMG/Gravity Media: They're wonderful to work with. Without [EMG UK Director, Golf Operations] Hamish Greig and [Production Manager] Alice Cutler and team, we would be lost.

When the Olympics end, it will be back to golf and, specifically, the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which begin Aug. 12 with the St. Jude Championship in Memphis; continue with the BMW Championship on Aug. 19 in Castle Rock, CO; and finish up with the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta Aug. 26.

We will have three road shows for the playoff events, notes Caputo. It's not only tournament coverage but three studio shows.

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Live From the 152nd Open: NBC Sports Set for Final Round, Expands Remote Operations for Top Tracer and Live From Cameras

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