ESPN doesn’t broadcast that much golf. In fact, they barely have a presence in the sport considering the only events they televise are the first two rounds of the Masters and the British Open. Even that won’t last too much longer as NBC just won future rights to the British Open. But that doesn’t mean Bristol isn’t pulling out all the stops for their coverage of this year’s tournament at St. Andrews.
ESPN introduced a pretty awesome innovation this year: a rotating broadcast booth at the 18th tower. Here’s Mike Tirico operating the booth with a joystick earlier this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t04EYbjf2FQ
Here’s more details on the concept from ESPN:
Situated on a platform high in the air adjacent to the 18th fairway at St Andrews, the booth can rotate to provide a view of several different scenes out the window behind the main anchor desk.
Starting with a view of the 18th hole fairway and green, and the first hole tee and fairway, the booth can rotate around to look at the No. 1 green, and then continue around to a view of the 18th tee and the famous “Road Hole,” the 17th.
The booth’s movement is controlled by a joystick in the hand of the anchor announcer. Mike Tirico, who is hosting coverage of The Open for the 19th consecutive year, introduced viewers to the rotating booth after a commercial break during the telecast of Thursday’s opening round.
Can you imagine being able to sit in one spot and see two of the oldest and most famous holes in golf – the 17th and 18th holes at St. Andrews – via something out of a flight simulator? It may not hugely impact the overall telecast, but it’s still a pretty cool innovation.
Now all I want is Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo to fly around Augusta in a portable broadcast booth next year. I’m sure the Masters would be cool with that.
[ESPN]
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