CBS wrapping up 2024 PGA Tour season, looking ahead to 2025 ...
A big push by CBS will be continuing to expand its tech offerings heading into next yeargetty images
CBS’s PGA Tour campaign wraps up this weekend at the Wyndham Championship, and it’s a year that lead producer Sellers Shy thinks can be split up into two parts.
CBS had its share of highlights, from Scottie Scheffler’s Masters win to Xander Schauffele’s first major at the PGA Championship. Scotland’s Roberty MacIntyre won the Scottish Open with a walk-off birdie after also winning the RBC Canadian Open with his father on the bag, two of the more emotional moments of the year.
One of CBS’s other high points this season was being the network the PGA Tour introduced its moving drone tracer on at the Travelers Championship.
But the network also had its share of obstacles in 2024. Its second tournament of the year -- the signature status AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am -- was shortened to 54 holes because of a serious storm on the Monterrey Peninsula.
CBS had to deal with protesters on the 18th green at the Travelers Championship, and longtime analyst Peter Oosterhuis passed away in early summer. In May, the network received the news of Grayson Murray’s passing just an hour before coming on the air at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“Of course you can pat each other on the back during the great times,” Shy said. “Big moments, made putts, great golf shots. But you also have to be in line, in sync in the tough times. So that’s how I saw the season: who are we when we face some challenges?”
The weather was so dangerous at Pebble Beach that no one was allowed access to the TV compound on tournament Sunday, forcing the network’s three-hour show -- albeit taped coverage -- to be produced out of N.Y. instead of on-site.
Both play-by-play man Jim Nantz and analyst Trevor Immelman gave emotional tributes to Murray when the network came on the air that Saturday.
“Our strong relationship allowed us to handle that properly,” Shy said. “That was kind of an unprecedented moment. There are times like that where it’s imperative that you do the right thing.”
With CBS’s season now nearly complete, Shy’s attention shifts to technology advancements around the broadcast before the network returns to the airwaves in January at the Farmers Insurance Open.
“What would I love to see? Maybe tracing off a fly-cam, really just enhancing our technology that we already have,” Shy said. “We learn as we go sometimes.”
Meanwhile, Shy is awaiting word on how the network’s broadcasts will be impacted by Strategic Sports Group’s investment in the tour. Shy is in frequent contact with Jon Freedman, the tour’s SVP/Media Broadcasting. But for now, Shy says it’s a waiting game.
“With Jon, there’s excitement there, he doesn’t have his head down, he’s looking up and ahead,” Shy said. “What’s going on in the landscape, it’s just taking a little time to create a plan and strategy that will work for everyone. Until they find a plan that works for all of us, they’re probably keeping a lot of things close to the vest.”
