ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt took part in a ‘Masters on ESPN’ media conference call this week along with Andy North and Curtis Strange. For the 17th year, ESPN will have live telecasts of the first two rounds of the Masters which gets underway next week.
Van Pelt was asked a question where a reporter asked him to think back to when he was just starting to cover the Masters and what might surprise that version of himself about how he and ESPN gets to cover the tournament in 2024.
As one can imagine, Van Pelt had a humorous first thought. “The fact that I get to sit in the Butler cabin would have caused me to have a brain aneurysm and die. The idea that that’s my job responsibility would have incapacitated me, I promise you.”
Van Pelt continued about the advances in coverage, “I think more than anything, the way technology allows the sport to be covered, the way our ubiquitous — not out there, but just in life — the ability to be providing content, whether it’s us as a broadcast partner or the app, which I think their app should be every app there is because it serves the user in the way the user wants to be served.
“I think that’s probably it. Just the ability to see anything and everything you want immediately. I’m being — and I don’t mean to be silly about it, but I’ll promise you this, every year that I walk in and sit down there with Curtis, it’s just astounding to me that we get to.”
Van Pelt went on to talk about conversations he has with another broadcaster about how lucky they are. “My friend Ernie Johnson, we talk all the time about having a get to, not a got to job,” he said. “This is what we get to do. We’re excited to cover the event, and we’re excited to have the different options on plus and all these different ways that things can be consumed.
“I was telling a guy last week about the business of media, whatever media will be five, ten years from now, is it going to be like what I grew up with? No. But whatever it is, we’re going to try to figure it out to try to be at the forefront of how you can serve your consumer and your viewer the best way. I think the Masters is an amazing example of all the ways that that can be done.”
‘SVP’ said no matter what time they were told to start their coverage, they would be ready. “…We’re not kidding when we say we’ll come on TV at whatever time the club would like us to come on. We come on first with the ceremonial tee balls and stay on all day, we’re there to cover it at the club’s discretion, and we’re excited to cover it the best way we can and try to be the best TV partner we can for Augusta National.”
