Behind The Scenes With CBS Sports At The 3M Open
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Many of the best golfers in the world are competing in the first-ever 3M Open.
The tournament started Thursday morning at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. This stop on the PGA Tour includes big names like Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. The four-day event includes weekend coverage on WCCO-TV.
The CBS Sports compound sits just off the course at TPC Twin Cities. The trailers travel from tournament to tournament.
"I would say it's a city within a city," said Coordinating Producer Lance Barrow. "We have our own caterer, we have our own power, we're basically self-contained."
It's where a crew of 200-plus will work during the 3M Open, a new tournament and course for the CBS Sports team. Barrow has been in charge of golf for the network for more than 20 years.
"You come out on a golf course you're not used to, how long it takes for a player to walk from one green to a tee, that all plays in this equation of how to put on a broadcast and when you can take a commercial," Barrow said.
Cameras are set around the course, some locked down, others that will rove. There is even a crane camera.
"As long as they can get a signal to our compound, we can go to the clubhouse, we can go to the parking lot," Barrow said.
The shots are fed into a main production trailer, called CBS A. It's where the director and a team of people decide what you see on the air. Barrow admits golf is the hardest sport to do on TV.
"There's more than one ball. Nobody has numbers on their back, and the biggest thing is nobody ever stops playing, so you're basically covering 18 stages at one time," Barrow said.
He said you take the tournament one shot at a time, and see where the players lead you.
"Saturday and Sunday you start telling the story about who's going to win this golf tournament and how that's going to play out," Barrow said.
The main production trailer was built specifically for the Super Bowl, The Masters and the PGA Championship. It's at TPC Twin Cities through Sunday, then heads to Illinois along with the crew for the John Deere Classic.