The Masters keeps Jo Allevato busy for ESPN Deportes, International

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Each April, golf’s finest descend on Augusta National Golf Club for the Masters Tournament, an event that golf fans around the world anticipate.

Thanks to the work of Jo Allevato and her team, Spanish-speaking golf fans in the United States and in many areas of Latin America are able to enjoy live telecasts of the Masters. The ESPN Deportes coverage airs 3-7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and the telecasts in Latin America air for all four days of the Masters.

Allevato, in her 24th year with ESPN, is coordinating producer for ESPN International golf coverage. She arrived in Augusta early in the week to oversee preparations.

“We work very closely with the ESPN domestic folks,” she said. “We’re really one big entity and we all share everything. So my function is to make sure the talent is good to go and everything is set in our booth, everything set in the world feed truck at our position there, we’re set with our counterparts at ESPN and it all gels together.”

The “world feed” is a neutral Masters telecast produced for television rightsholders around the world and is different from what ESPN airs in the U.S. Allevato’s team adds ESPN’s Spanish-language announcers and key graphics.

ESPN event integration producer Michael Vicki works in the world feed truck as does media producer Monica Rivera, who gathers video and materials for the Spanish-language versions of SportsCenter and other news platforms.

Viewers in the U.S. watching ESPN Deportes and viewers on ESPN affiliates in Latin America are seeing the same telecast, with Paco Aleman (analyst), Silvia Bertolaccini (play-by-play) and John Sutcliffe (on-course reporter).

In addition, Allevato’s group works with the ESPN Deportes production facility in Mexico City, origination point for a 30-minute daily Masters preview show with host Sergio Dipp and analyst Luis Alfredo Alvarez that airs in Latin America.

“We always have calls the night before to editorially decide what’s going to be in that show,” Allevato said. “Our announcers here shoot standups at the first fairway, then we send those segments down to Mexico, and they are included in the show, giving that show a presence from Augusta and the studio.”

For much of the year, Allevato oversees baseball coverage on ESPN Deportes and she’s also involved in coverage of the Olympics and Pan Am Games. This is her 10th year she at the Masters, an event she always looks forward to.

“The Masters is one of those events not everyone gets to experience,” she said. “Being able to is truly a moment to treasure.”