One of the longstanding tenets of sports journalism is “no cheering in the press box.”
But how about the broadcast booth?
NBC Sports is throwing out all pretenses of objectivity at next week’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, where the New York crowds are expected to create a home-course advantage perhaps unlike any other in the history of the biennial matches.
The fans will be taking sides and so will the broadcasters.
“We’re going to have a partisan booth,” NBC Sports lead golf producer Tommy Roy said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters. “We’ve always covered our sports events in a completely impartial way, never referring to the Americans as ‘we.’”
Roy explained how at the Olympics, which NBC has covered for decades, the feeds of individual countries’ broadcasts would be shown in the international broadcast center and all would be highly partisan—yet they were entertaining.
“I kind of used to scoff at this style because I was so brainwashed into impartiality, but you know what, it’s actually a pretty fun listen,” Roy said.
“So our executive producer, Sam Flood, said let’s give it a shot at Bethpage. With the Ryder Cup, with its two fervent fan bases, we are all-in.”
That means one European loyalist and one American loyalist alongside a host for each session. In the Friday and Saturday morning foursomes, Terry Gannon will host with Notah Begay and Nick Faldo. In the afternoon four-balls on those days and for Sunday’s singles, lead host Dan Hicks will be on the call with Brad Faxon and Paul McGinley.
Faldo, of course, was a longtime European Ryder Cup stalwart who also had a long run as the lead analyst at CBS. McGinley, also a former European Ryder Cup player and captain, was with the European team earlier this week on a scouting trip to Bethpage.
“I might need to adopt a referee jersey for McGinley and Fax, but I think it’s a great idea, too,” Hicks said. “These guys bleed their country’s colors, especially at an event like this, and I really think we’re going to get more insight out of these guys with the gloves on, so to speak. And unrestrained from any of the usual journalistic responsibilities, they’ll be able to do their thing.”
But don’t expect this to be NBC’s style for the future. The Ryder Cup is unlike any other event in golf and next week it’s getting treated that way.
“This is not going to be the new norm at NBC Sports, but at Bethpage, this is what we’re doing,” Roy said.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBC’s Ryder Cup Broadcasts Will Have a Distinctive Tone.