CBS Previews The "Return To Golf" At Colonial: More Sound, Multiple Working Locations, Drones & More

My main takeaways from the CBS call previewing this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge from Colonial:

—The crew this week will work like no TV team ever has in stifling heat with a severe reduction in on-site personnel. Drink those fluids!

—This is going to cost more despite keeping a production team working in six locations (including New Zealand!) and announcers in two spots (Colonial and Orlando). CBS Sports President Sean McManus confirmed the crew’s locales and increased cost element late in the call.

—Players still haven’t come around on the idea of us hearing more of what they say, a problem that can (and will) be solved my market forces.

—The “confession cam” as dubbed by Jim Nantz smells like one of those really swell ideas when it started before the committee turned a thoroughbred into a camel.

—Expect a ton of commercial breaks. But “Eye on the Course” will be used more than ever, according to McManus.

—Nantz has a tough task on his hands both in crafting words and the right tone, though seems up to it.

—Crews will work two weeks and then get replaced by a new crew for the next two weeks during a grueling 11-week stretch for CBS.

—Without fans a live drone sounds like it’s going to happen, pending a bit more testing.

Regarding the details, here is Bob Harig at ESPN.com on the confession cam where a camera will be positioned and players will answer a question on a printed card:

The "inside the ropes'' feature also will be experimented with and staged perhaps on the 10th tee or after the 10th hole. Players can answer a quick question to be taped and used later, possibly compiled with other answers.

"I think that can make a big difference,'' Nantz said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for the game. They have a chance to go before a sports-starved nation and create a wider audience. But we need the players' help.''

The primary issue seems to be the idea of asking players to break their concentration.

With 148 players, hot weather, four a robust senior division and a golf course too short for the modern game there should be some good logjams where players will run for the confines of a shaded tent.

Doug Ferguson on how the announce situation will work:

CBS is doing its part of reduce health risks with a production crew that McManus said will be roughly half of what it is for a normal PGA Tour event, with operations such as graphics and video shading in six locations.

Faldo will be at Golf Channel studios in Orlando, Florida, along with Frank Nobilo and Ian Baker-Finch, who usually are in towers on the course. The other talent at Colonial will be Dottie Pepper and Mark Immelman as on-course reporters.

There will be smaller production trucks spread across the compound to promote social distancing. Nantz will call the action all four days, as the same production will be used for the weekday coverage shown on Golf Channel.

Ryan Lavner with this from McManus regarding players and sound.

A few players have already agreed to wear a microphone during this week’s telecast, part of what CBS chairman Sean McManus described as an “aggressive” push with the Tour. With no spectators for the first five events, McManus said there’s “a little bit more of a willingness” among the players to be mic’d up.

As many have noted, we should naturally get more sound with no crowd noise. Oh, and on the topic of possibly supplementing the sounds, Nantz shot that down as Dave Shedloski reported in his roundup of the call:

• While there will be no fans watching the action at Colonial, the network will eschew piping in any audio enhancements—another way of saying it will not add fake crowd noise or reactions. As Nantz said, appropriately, “The key word is ‘fake.’ As a fan … just take it for what it is, give me the real scene and let me deal with it.”

Here is the full press release, noteworthy in itself as a joint venture of CBS, Golf Channel and PGA Tour.

THE PGA TOUR RETURNS WITH THE CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE ON THURSDAY, JUNE 11-SUNDAY, JUNE 14

WITH 59 HOURS OF LIVE COVERAGE ACROSS CBS, GOLF CHANNEL AND PGA TOUR LIVE

The 2019-20 PGA TOUR season returns with the Charles Schwab Challenge, beginning on Thursday, June 11 and concluding with final-round coverage on Sunday, June 14, with 59 hours of live coverage across CBS, GOLF Channel and PGA TOUR LIVE.

With live coverage returning, the health and safety of all involved at CBS Sports, NBC Sports Group and PGA TOUR Entertainment is paramount. With that as the top priority, a plan was developed to resume production of live golf, implementing health screenings and safety protocols, utilizing more technology, minimizing travel and reducing the on-site footprint, maximizing social distancing, all while allowing for a best-in-class production.

CBS Sports and GOLF Channel will present a unified, linear broadcast production. The same production and announce team during Saturday and Sunday’s coverage on CBS also will work Thursday and Friday’s coverage on GOLF Channel – allowing for fewer than half of the normal contingent on site for a typical PGA TOUR production. In addition to Fort Worth, there will be members of the team working remotely from GOLF Channel studios in Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, Stamford (Conn.) and New Zealand.

Many of the production elements, including the scoring graphics, remote editing, video shading, multiple replay devices – including the new multichannel Hawkeye system – and editorial support, will come from these remote locations.

In addition to reducing on-site personnel, the plan will be promoting greater social distancing by adding television mobile units to limit the number of people in each one and reconfiguring the trucks to provide more space and physical barriers.

Live television coverage of the Charles Schwab Challenge will begin Thursday at Noon ET on GOLF Channel with an extended live “look-in” to PGA TOUR LIVE featured group streaming coverage. Traditional television coverage will start on Thursday at 4:00 PM, ET on GOLF Channel and conclude on Sunday beginning at 3:00 PM, ET on CBS.

For all four days Jim Nantz will anchor coverage from the 18th Tower at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Nantz will be joined on site by on-course reportersDottie Pepper and Mark Immelman. Lead Analyst Nick Faldo, Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo will offer analysis remotely from Orlando and Amanda Balionis will contribute reports from her home.

The CBS Sports production team will lead coverage utilizing 23 cameras including 10 hard cameras, six mini RF cameras, plus robotic cameras and more. The team will return with its industry-leading Production and Technology elements including:

Toptracer - Using 3D radar tracking to provide the viewer with a true sense of distance, height, curvature and more. Tracing live tee shots on various holes showing the apex, ball speed, distance and curve will once again be staples of this technology.
Toptracer RF - Toptracer will outfit two RF mini-cameras in order to provide ball tracking graphics and statistics on a player’s second shot from the fairway anywhere on the course.
ARL Virtual Eye - Virtual Eye uses Toptracer ball tracing capabilities on tee shots within a 3D Hole Model, while simultaneously showing the golfer hit shots from the tee. Virtual flyover animations also return, giving a second shot perspective once the ball comes to rest including GolfTrax information providing key statistical information for both individual players and holes.
SwingVision - CBS’ Emmy Award-winning technical innovation, SwingVision, featuring super-slow action to break down players’ swings and demonstrate shots from various locations on the course to capture the dramatic high speed replays of various shots.
Live Aerial Coverage

Debuting during coverage will be:

ARL Virtual Signage – Augmented Reality technology will be utilized to virtually place statistics, player information and sponsorship partners on the course with full trackable camera moves so that the images appear to be actually on the course.

Hawkeye Replay Source – While Hawkeye has contributed to CBS golf coverage on digital platforms in the past, this event will feature for the first time this replay technology integrated into the linear broadcast, with an operator controlling every camera angle remotely from home and contributing with real time replays from action on the course.

CBS Sports' broadcast coverage also will be available to stream live on the CBS All Access subscription service.

GOLF Channel’s Thursday and Friday coverage also will stream live via GOLF Channel Digital.

GOLF Channel will carry 10 scheduled hours of live tournament coverage Thursday through Sunday, which will be complemented by live pre and post-game analysis and commentary on Golf Central across all four days. Rich Lerner will host Golf Central coverage and be joined by analyst Brandel Chamblee, with Todd Lewis reporting from on-site at Colonial Country Club. Additionally, GOLF Channel will offer expanded opening round live coverage on Thursday, offering viewers an extended live “look-in” of feature group streaming coverage (Noon – 4:00 PM, ET) via PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold.

PGA TOUR digital platforms will provide additional coverage to support the Charles Schwab Challenge. PGA TOUR LIVE, the TOUR’s Over-The-Top subscription service, will provide free access to the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday, June 11, with a total of 43 hours of coverage during the week. Coverage on Thursday-Friday runs from 7:45 A.M.–7:00 PM, ET, and from 7:45 AM–6:00 PM, ET Saturday and Sunday, ET. New subscribers can sign up via NBC Sports Gold by visitingwww.pgatourlive.com.

Additionally, the TOUR and Twitter are unveiling “Twitter Multicast,” an innovative live content execution that has never been attempted on the social media platform. Twitter Multicast will take place on Thursday from approximately 1:00-2:30 PM (EST) and will showcase athletes, celebrities and other personalities creating their own live, audio/video commentary in conjunction with PGA TOUR LIVE Featured Groups. Finally, the TOUR will launch an all-new TOURCast (https://www.pgatour.com/tourcast.html#/) product that will allow fans to follow every shot from each group with a beautiful 3D rendering of the golf course and shot trails, available on the PGA TOUR’s mobile apps and website for every event on the PGA TOUR schedule through the FedExCup Playoffs.

THE CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE TELEVISION AND DIGITAL SCHEDULE

Thursday, June 11

7:45 AM-7:00 PM, ET PGA TOUR LIVE

Noon-4:00 P.M. ET GOLF Channel (PGA TOUR Live)

4:00-7:00 PM, ET GOLF Channel

Friday, June 12

7:45 AM-7:00 PM, ET PGA TOUR LIVE

4:00-7:00 PM, ET GOLF Channel

Saturday, June 13

7:45 AM-6:00 PM, ET PGA TOUR LIVE

1:00-3:00 PM, ET GOLF Channel

3:00-6:00 PM, ET CBS