Case Study

PGA TOUR Tees Up the Future of Sports Broadcasting

SECTION 1

Introduction

PGA TOUR Studios, the pinnacle of golf media production is redefining how fans experience the sport.

Located adjacent to PGA TOUR’s Global Home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, this state-of-the-art, 165,000-square-foot facility serves as the epicenter for live production and innovative content creation, spanning the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, and the repurposing of over 5,000 hours of PGA TOUR footage.

Designed for flexibility and scalability, PGA TOUR Studios embodies the commitment to continuous innovation, helping PGA TOUR meet fans where they are, create more diverse premium content for PGA TOUR’s growing global fanbase and ensure future-ready production capabilities that will continue to bring the best of PGA TOUR to new and existing audiences everywhere.

“The vision of this building is to show as much golf to as many fans as possible, in the way that they want to consume it,” said David Piccolo, Sr. Vice President Executive Creative Director, PGA TOUR. “That’s always changing, so you’re always trying to keep up with the latest technology. This building will allow us to adapt and pivot as needed to improve our product for our fans.”

Section 2

The Challenge

With the rapid and continued growth of golf’s global audience and the evolving demands of modern media production, PGA TOUR Studios faced the challenge of upgrading its capabilities while maintaining content production and distribution operations.

Their key objectives included transitioning from a 25-year-old facility to a technologically advanced production hub that supports current and future standards, expanding production to include localized and fan-centric content for global audiences, and integrating advanced graphics and virtual production tools to enhance storytelling.

 

To accommodate all the different things we wanted to achieve in our new building, we needed a graphics system that would allow us to do on-air graphics, studio graphics, virtual reality XR, etc., all on one platform. After talking to several vendors and exploring different graphic solutions, we felt very strongly there wasn’t another vendor that could serve our needs like Ross.

Andrew Wisniewski
Vice President Engineering, PGA TOUR

Section 3

The Solution

PGA TOUR Studios chose Ross Video after an extensive evaluation process involving consulting with vendors, operators and technology experts nationwide.

Ross stood out for its ability to provide a unified solution for live graphics, studio production and virtual workflows, offering seamless integration and flexibility, including XPression, XPression Tessera, XPression FX, Lucid Studio, Voyager and Artimo robotics. The team appreciated Ross’ streamlined approach which eliminated the need for third-party data integrations and simplified implementation and operation. Positive feedback from operators during testing further reinforced the decision, making Ross the ideal technology to meet PGA TOUR Studios’ current and future production needs.

Ross Video and their Creative Services division, Rocket Surgery, collaborated closely with PGA TOUR Studios to implement the suite of graphics solutions into the new studio. Once implemented, Ross also helped the PGA TOUR’s operators to get comfortable using the new technology.

Whenever there was a challenge, having clear and immediate communication about possible solutions was very important and helped build a lot of trust with the team. The delivery date was very close to when we went on air. But the communication throughout the project gave us all the confidence we needed and helped us build a lot of trust in Ross.” — Andrew Wisniewski, Vice President Engineering, PGA TOUR

Andrew Wisniewski
Vice President Engineering, PGA TOUR

PGA TOUR Studios solutions powered by Ross Video include:

Section 4

The Impact

Transitioning to Ross’ XPression platform from older systems like Chyron was initially a challenge – operators were understandably hesitant to change after years of using familiar tools.

However, once they got hands-on experience, the feedback was clear: Ross made their work easier. The tools were intuitive and efficient, which removed much of the frustration and workload they had faced with their previous system. The flexibility of Ross products makes it easy to customize feeds and graphics, ensuring a fan-first approach to content creation.

“Ross has helped the TOUR make a smooth transition, and we’ve even had a few comments like, ‘WOW, I can’t believe we were doing it this way for so long. It’s so much easier this way’. The Ross workflow, the Ross products, feel like they were designed and created specifically for our live broadcasts, and that’s the priority.” — David Piccolo, Sr. Vice President Executive Creative Director, PGA TOUR

The process of getting up and running with Ross was smooth, thanks to the team’s support and training. From the first conversations to implementation, Ross was there every step of the way, helping PGA TOUR Studios simplify their workflows and eliminate the need for complicated third-party solutions. The new tools—like XPression, Tessera, and Voyager—gave the team the flexibility to create customized, high-quality content faster than ever. And the Studios are better equipped to handle whatever comes next in golf broadcasting.

As the PGA TOUR enters a new era of broadcasting, PGA TOUR Studios stands as a testament to its commitment to innovation, fan engagement and operational excellence. With Ross Video as a key technology vendor, the PGA TOUR is poised to elevate golf to unprecedented heights.

Learn More

To discover how Ross solutions are helping sports broadcasters tell more compelling stories for fans, visit rossvideo.com/sports-broadcast.

 

“The collaboration between the teams has been great. The team was very patient with us, took the time to educate us on our options, and made the process much simpler. We didn’t have to use third-party integrators to enable us to integrate the data. That’s a big part of why we went with Ross—having the strength of one team that could do it all.

Andrew Wisniewski
Vice President Engineering, PGA TOUR

Interested in more info? Send us a note!

We’ll put you in touch with a member of our team to discuss your specific needs.