A year ago, it made perfect sense for announcers to call games remotely. Today, the decision is stupid and kind of annoying. It’s also another sign that sports broadcasters, such as Fox and ESPN, insist on being cheap as hell. What are we doing here?
Most recently, MASN, the network that broadcast both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles, were forced to admit that broadcasters wouldn’t be going on road trips to start this season. The decision was blamed on COVID-19, but we all know that’s not true. It’s all about the Benjamins.
This is the same reason why ESPN continues to have announcers call games remotely for college basketball. Seriously, how is it safe for some broadcast crews to go out and work in person but not others? It’s one thing to cut corners on an ESPN+ showing of a Big Sky game. But to do this for games being shown on cable is absurd.
Especially considering just how terrible remote broadcasts are. There is nothing worse than a play-by-play guy seconds behind the action. And heaven forbid something happens in the arena because they will have no clue as to what’s going on. Sometimes they never find out.
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By the way, there is a super simple workaround to all this. If an announcer doesn’t want to travel due to the risks of COVID-19 or a network doesn’t want to spend money on travel to lower-profile events, I not only understand but can accept that.
However, be honest about the reasoning and then use local announce teams. Sure, they are total homers and aren’t always as good as national broadcasters. But no one is clamoring for the sixth-choice broadcast team, anyway. At least people on-site are able to tell viewers what is happening at the venue as opposed to ignoring it.
Besides, I don’t need someone to watch a game on TV and do play-by-play for me. I can literally do that myself. We all can. Those feeling really industrious could Facetime a friend and have him or her do a little color commentary. Best of all, your makeshift broadcast wouldn’t have any lag.
Sports networks, what are we doing here? Stop having announcers call the games remotely. It ruins the experience. Don’t show a game if your network can’t be bothered to have someone in the building for it.
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