PGA, CBS finding ways to connect with fans
The PGA Tour debuted its TOURCast for the opening round of The Players Championship in March to much success.
“It went fantastic during that one day. It showed every single shot for the very first time,” said Scott Gutterman, the senior vice president of digital operations for the PGA Tour. “But the following three days, the situation dictated otherwise.”
The final three rounds of the Players Championship were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour remained on hiatus until June 11.
The return of play led to the return of the 3D cast, again to rave reviews, according to Gutterman. Every shot of the entire Charles Schawb Challenge was shown in a fully-simulated 3D graphical representation on the tour’s website and mobile app.
“We are excited with the reception. If there is a shot for some reason that doesn’t get caught on the telecast or (replay), you can now see it on video,” Gutterman said. “It’s watching a tournament through a video game.”
The 3D TOURCast is one way the tour is trying to connect with its fans during these times. No fans are allowed in attendance for at least the first five tournaments, including this week’s Travelers Champi
onship.
So for those who would rather choose not to sit home and watch the Travelers on either CBS or the Golf Channel, they can check out the TOURCast of their favorite players. If you are out playing golf and miss their rounds, you can go on the TOURCast and replay those rounds — in a lot less time than it takes to play one.
The TOURCast also provides interactive course graphics and live Shotlink statistics for each player on every hole..
Using the TOURCast is free, as long as you sign up on the PGA Tour’s website. It is not available for use at the major championships.
Gutterman said the mostwatched golfers on the TOURCast at the Charles Schwab were Bryson DeChambeau — who put on about 20 pounds of muscle during the hiatus and is now hitting drives about 30 yards further than before the pandemic — and Jordan Spieth, the three-time major champion.
PGA Tour Live has been around since 2015, with more than 54,000 followers on Twitter. Marquee groups are featured on the streaming broadcast.
But with more fans coming to the different online platforms means more ideas are needed. Gutterman said fans have been allowed to ask questions on PGA Tour Live and golfers can send messages out to their fans. Fan poll voting is also an important component.
“The goal here is to engage our fans remotely. A lot of leagues are looking at that right now,” Gutterman said. “We have literally taken fan questions for the (virtual) press conferences (of golfers). These are big weeks because right now, there are only two or three (live) sports. We are seeing an increase in number of hard-core fans and casual fans coming (to PGA Tour Live) to watch the sport.”
Gutterman declined to provide the specific numbers increase, per company protocol. PGA Tour Live costs $9.99 per month and $64.99 for the entire season.
The fans are not the only ones who have lost out on the live golf. CBS Sports, which is in the midst of presenting 11 straight weekend broadcasts, has fewer people on site and more at different locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sean McManus, the CBS Sports chairman, said in a June 8 media conference call that the on-site main production unit has been reduced from 22 people to nine.
“The other thing that we’re doing, which we haven’t talked about yet, is we have a production team that is doing the first two weeks, so they’re doing the Colonial and Hilton Head,” McManus said. “After that, an entirely new production team comes in, and they will do the following two events (Travelers and the Rocket Mortgage Classic), so to try to come up with enough manpower for now two separate production teams, and to have production teams in, as I said, in New York, Los Angeles, Stamford, and actually in New Zealand — we have one of our technical innovation bases out of New Zealand, believe it or not — it has been incredibly complicated.”
Jim Nantz, the lead broadcaster for CBS, is in a booth by himself. Other than a couple of reporters following specific groups, the other broadcasters, like
Nick Faldo, are calling the action from the Golf Channel studio in Orlando, Florida.
CBS and The Golf Channel have asked golfers to wear a microphone during the rounds to let viewers listen in. The network will also have its live aerial views and a Hawkeye Replay Source, which is providing real-time replays from the action.
Getting this to all run smoothly is no easy process.
“It has been incredibly complicated,” McManus said, “And when you put in the layer on top of that, screening and testing and quarantining and use of rental cars and hotel rooms, trying to make sure that the safety of employees is first and foremost, we’ve dealt with things that we’ve never dealt with before in any kind of sports production that I’ve been involved in.”