You know, Marty, one real problem for announcers sitting in front of a monitor instead of being at the game is field of vision. What they see may be strictly limited to what the camera sees. So often announcers see things like players going down or coaches working refs that just don't show up on the monitor. Having remote announcers takes away from the flavor that announcers can add to broadcasts. That's one reason why games with remote announcers sound so bland. Unfortunately, we might see more of it in the future as networks try to cut the cost of doing "lesser" conference games. It reduces travel costs, and might even allow them to use some announcers more frequently.
That is a real worry of mine. My friends on the Ohio State Radio Network have the advantage of having extra sound/effects piped in to their broadcasts, and calling games from state of the art video production facilities, and most Power 5's have that edge as well. That gives their in studio calls more "authenticity" if you will. Many have said they can't tell the difference, but most of us in the business, and Russ and I have had this discussion, can tell the difference. So much is lost on the call for announcers not being on site, and it's not fair to the viewer/listener. Schools without the available assets are doing the best they
can, but it's not a good situation. The Big Ten Network has actually been doing games with announcers in studio for a number of years, but it's not the major viewership sports, such as football and men's hoops, but women's basketball, baseball, softball, etc,. It's a troubling trend, in my opinion, but seems to be a bigger part of the future of our business