Live From 151st Open Championship: NBC Sports Visits Little Eye Island; Mega Studio' Is a Hit

Live From 151st Open Championship: NBC Sports Visits Little Eye Island; Mega Studio' Is a Hit The island location offers two different looks from a single spot By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Sunday, July 23, 2023 - 3:57 am

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The 151st Open Championship is entering its final round, and, for the team at NBC Sports, one production highlight won't have anything to do with the on-course coverage but, instead, is the live opening hit for the final round, featuring NBC Sports golf host Mike Tirico on Little Eye Island, an island off the coast of West Kirby providing a dramatic view of Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

According to NBC Sports VP, Golf Operations, Allison McAllister, the idea came up during the spring survey when producer Tommy Roy and some club members were talking about options for doing something special for the opening of the final round.

They came up with this great idea to go out on Little Eye, McAllister explains. The club member was so excited about the plan, he called the Rangers that day for approval and looked at the tidal charts. And now they are making it happen.

NBC Sports golf team (from left) Ed Boyer, Marc Caputo, Tavi Wright, Bridget Cugle, Sam Ruby, and Allison McAllister at 151st Open Championship

The island is unique in that, most of the time (approximately seven hours out of every 12), the low tide allows access on foot. Located about a mile offshore, it has no buildings and no power but does offer a great view across the golden sands of the Dee Estuary.

Marc Caputo, director, remote technical operations and engineering, NBC Sports, says that, on Sunday, a Ranger will drive a camera operator, Tirico, an A2, and an RF utility out to the island for the hit.

We are using RF facilities provided by EMG, he explains. And part of the coverage plan is to use two ACS robotic cameras, one on the 17th green and one above the NBC studio, to help with the coverage from the island.

Of course, once the opening shot with Tirico is completed, all eyes will be on the action on the course, one that last hosted the Open Championship in 2014.

The 17th hole has been completely redesigned since the last Open, becoming a spectacular, challenging par 3, says Caputo. It is the feature hole of the course and even has a whole feed dedicated to it. One thing that hasn't changed in the past nine years is the location of the practice range, which is off-property and over the train tracks.

Explains NBC Sports, Director, Golf Operations, Bridget Cugle, All our reporters and camera crew need to shuttle over in vehicles to the range, which is unlike most of the courses on the rotation.

There are more than 160 cameras on the course and available to the NBC golf production team, including 13 unilateral cameras (three of which are on-course RF) for championship coverage. NBC Sports Technical Manager Sam Ruby notes that Live From has four Telemetric robotics on set: a downrange camera, an ACS bunker cam in a practice bunker, and a rover cam.

A first for NBC Sports this year is that the main broadcast booth and Tirico's booth are sharing the same location.

It's a mega studio located between the 13 green and the walk off from 14 tee, says McAllister. We will have all our announcers in there together, except our on-course walking announcers.

Besides maximizing resources, it gives the production team two different looks from one location, and reaction from all involved as been positive as it makes everything more convenient.

Along with the unilateral cameras, the production team, which numbers around 150, has some additional support from ARL for virtual graphics, its own Pinpoints providing wind animations, and a LiveU capturing scenic shots throughout the area (including, with a little luck, live shots from the Cavern Club).

The main tournament production comes from here, adds Caputo. The early golf that airs on Peacock and USA is produced out of Stamford[, CT,] and relies on the world feed. We're also producing Live From out of Stamford and are providing a production team for the two Featured Groups. Also, our Par Three Channel is using the UHD HDR feed.

The 151st Open Championship, like all golf majors, required working closely with the R&A, ETP, and EMG throughout the year, McAllister says. Beyond those external partnerships, we have great collaboration with tournament, studio, and news teams sharing resources to make sure the 151st Open Championship is covered from all angles.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/07/23/live-from-151st-open-championsh...
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