Live From THE PLAYERS Championship: New Truck Fleet, Live Drones Get Into the Mix for NBC Sports; Coverage Goes HDR

Among the 72 cameras will be a JitaCam at the 17th tee, shooting toward the island green

THE PLAYERS Championship takes over NBC Sports and Golf Channel this weekend, and, from a production standpoint, the big news is the PLAYERS debut of NEP’s PGA TOUR fleet, nine trucks deployed for all PGA TOUR coverage by both NBC Sports and CBS Sports. THE PLAYERS is the third event that NBC Sports has handled from the trucks. And the fleet is already paying dividends, being very quickly parked, powered, and ready to produce golf.

NBC Sports, Golf Channel, and Peacock are partnering with PGA TOUR Productions at TPC Sawgrass and throughout the season. Notes Ken Goss, EVP, studio, remote operations, and production planning, NBC Sports, “Our combined Technical/Operational Teams, along with that of the NEP Group, have been very successful, with no better example than the PGA TOUR fleet of facilities.”

From left: NBC Sports’ Bridget Cugle, Marc Caputo, Sam Ruby, Tavi Wright, Jason Abrams, Marissa Perl, and Allison McAllister at TPC Sawgrass for the 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship.

The trucks arrived on Monday morning, and the EIC was able to get his computer up by 4 p.m. and set for a Super Bowl-level show starting on Thursday, says Marc Caputo, director, remote technical operations, NBC Sports. “And, along with the PGA TOUR fleet, we have NEP ND2A here for the back-nine cameras, EVS, some robotic positions, and graphic builds.”

NBC Sports Director, Remote Operations, Jason Abrams describes the learning curve for the new trucks as twofold: the fleet is a shared resource with CBS and, being entirely IP-based, has a layer of SMPTE ST 2110. “It’s a lot of new things,” he points out, adding, “At this compound, we have NEP’s three largest and most powerful trucks with Supershooter CBS and ND2. That means that a lot of planning and movement needed to happen to get them all in their space by 4 p.m. on Monday.”

NBC Sports is deploying 72 cameras for its coverage of THE PLAYERS. Among the highlights is a drone camera on Holes 16 and 17, replacing the Flycam that had been used there for years.

At THE PLAYERS, the Flycam now flies between Holes 9 (pictured) and 18.

“[The Flycam] was kind of an eyesore,” explains NBC Sports/Golf Channel Lead Producer Tommy Roy. “We have replaced it this year with a drone that is going to live just inside the bowl. When we did the Phoenix Open a couple of years ago, we talked to the PGA TOUR officials onsite about giving us a chance to try this. We do need to be very careful not to distract the players and also to be careful not to entice the fans to start throwing things at the drone.”

Sky Realty Productions owner/co-founder Ben McClung is handling the drone coverage with two units — Goose and Drone — flown from a small cove along the 16th fairway. Says Abrams, “He can operate Goose from there and still have a view of the golfers on 17. Drone, meanwhile, can go anywhere else on the course.”

The drone was wired early in the week for use on Golf Channel’s “Live From,” with Goose covering the front nine on Wednesday.

“We also upgraded to Ross Video Furio [studio track-based camera system], which works seamlessly with NBC Sports,” adds NBC Sports Technical Manager Sam Ruby. “We first used it at the Waste Management Open, then in Mexico, and now here. We have four cameras on our set, including three Robovisions, which are controlled out of our trailer.”

The Flycam is still being used, having moved to a location above a hospitality tent between Holes 9 and 18. “We’re going to get much better images there,” notes Roy. “We’re getting spectacular views of 9 off the Flycam and cool shots of 18 as well.”

New this year is a bunker cam at Hole 16 (another bunker cam will be at 17). He says, “I don’t know why, but the players hit away from the water on 16, and many of them end up in the pot bunker [where the camera is located].”

In addition, a JitaCam with ball-tracing capabilities is located on the 17th tee, providing an enhanced perspective of tee shots heading toward the famous island green. Caputo says ARL worked with Robovision to bring tracing to the live camera.

On Sunday, that will be in heavy use, enabling the viewer to see if the ball was short of the green and hit the water. “On Sunday,” notes Roy, “the pin is down there in the corner of the green. A lot of times, the balls come up short, and our camera is shooting from behind, and you can’t see the ball splash down. The JitaCam will be on the tee shot. Thanks to Jon Freedman, VP, broadcasting production, PGA TOUR, [who helped] us get those toys.”

For viewers on Peacock, THE PLAYERS Championship will be available in 1080p HDR for the first time.

“The last two years, we’ve done a lot of HDR at the U.S. Open, with HDR coverage of all 18 greens, the Featured Group, and Featured Holes,” Caputo explains. “This is the first [full tournament] airing in HDR. It takes a lot of coordination. With this being the 50th year of the tournament, there are a lot of clips in standard definition and HD. We have to make sure the clips upload properly and our vendors are compatible with our HDR standards. And we also have to hand off an SDR version to the PGA TOUR.”

THE PLAYERS is a week-long effort, with Golf Channel on-air from TPC Sawgrass early in the week. The production team comprises 335 for actual golf coverage and another 70 for Golf Channel’s “Live From” coverage.

“Our relationship with the tour gets better and better each year in terms of our compound and working together,” says Bridget Cugle, director, golf operations, NBC Sports. “PGA TOUR has been a great partner, and it just gets smoother.”