NBC’s third-round coverage of the U.S. Open struggled with technical difficulties, frustrating fans who have questioned the network’s commitment to the sport.
Sometime around 4 p.m. ET, the broadcast lost graphics, including the leaderboard, as well as audio. Even beyond that outage, fans complained about overall poor audio quality during the round.
Technical glitches like poor sound hurting NBC’s U.S. Open Golf coverage. Mike Tirico mentioned a problem with a broadcast truck but no other details.
— Steve Donohue (@stevedonohue) June 15, 2024
Technical difficulties are not a new thing for NBC at the U.S. Open. Last year’s final-round coverage was marred by a buzzing sound throughout the afternoon.
Yet for many fans, the technical issues epitomized what they claim is NBC’s limited commitment to the sport. The network has been criticized for budget cuts in its coverage, a point even raised by longtime NBC analyst Paul Azinger when he left last year after failing to reach a contract extension.
Fans have also bashed the network’s unusual “rolling audition” for a lead golf analyst.
Saturday’s outage, and the continuing audio quality issues, just added more fuel to the “NBC short-changes golf” debate.
NBC promised us that they were dedicating all of their possible resources in their biggest events.
This is their biggest event and they’ve managed to lose audio with the lead groups, and currently have no graphics/leaderboards.
Unbelievable.
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 15, 2024
Every shortcut, every middle finger, every excuse they’ve made in the last several years… it’s all led to this moment.
You’re gonna get zero benefit of the doubt from the golf fan’s you’ve spent years pissing off. https://t.co/Oq7Y0Nh4Yc
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 15, 2024
NBC has lost audio and their leaderboard. Embarrassing lol.
— GSC 🎬 (@fund_human) June 15, 2024
So I guess the audio for the U.S. Open is being captured by the blimp??? Everything else is dead silence. Pathetic, NBC. #NBCFail revived.
— Kinder, Gentler, Softer NOT!!🥑 (@MediaMan666) June 15, 2024
What’s going on with @NBCSports coverage of the @usopengolf. I know they had some technical difficulties and went to commercial. Now it seems like what we are watching is actually tape delayed by a few minutes and not “live”. No crowd noise and very sterile. Are we not live???
— tOdDotronic (@toddotronic) June 15, 2024
Something weird going on with @NBCSports coverage of #usopen . It’s like the announcers are watching it on television and narrating. The sound is gone. Pretty poor effort.
— Steve Radley (@SteveRadley3) June 15, 2024
NBC’s coverage is disgraceful to the game of golf. Losing audio, missing shots of golfers in real contention, and so many commercial breaks
— Caleb Rosenblum (@caleb_rosenblum) June 15, 2024
@NBCSports you are totally blowing the US Open broadcast. FIX THE AUDIO! We are hearing nothing but the talking heads.
— Tim Raisor (@TimRaisor) June 15, 2024
