ESPN Announcer Frustrated by Technical Difficulties: ‘I’d Like to Tell You What’s Happening, But That’s Not Currently Possible’

The NCAA men’s college basketball season tipped off Tuesday night, but fans of the Akron Zips and Ohio State Buckeyes struggled to enjoy the game thanks to brutal technical difficulties marring the ESPN2 broadcast.

As irritated as the fans were, play-by-play voice Jason Benetti was equally frustrated as he and color analyst Jon Crispin were calling the matchup remotely and relying on the video feed to accurately describe the action.

“I’d like to tell you what’s happening, but that’s not currently possible,” Benetti said as he repeatedly stared at a scrambled monitor during the first half of the game.

Normally, when the video feed goes out on a game broadcast, at least the audience can really on audio to narrate the play-by-play, but that backup plan isn’t available when the announcers are watching the game through a monitor.

Covid protocols are still forcing some announcers to call games remotely for health purposes, but financial reasons have also crept into play. Unfortunately, following Covid protocols for 20 months inspired some networks and broadcast companies to keep their announcers working remotely for cost savings purposes. But every so often, networks are reminded why it’s important to have announcers on-site.

Earlier this year, Benetti, who also serves as the Chicago White Sox TV play-by-play voice went off on being forced to call road games from home.

“It’s cover, it’s ridiculous,” Benetti said during a July interview with Chicago’s 670 The Score. “We, in order to do the job properly, need to be around the team…I don’t want to hear anybody say ‘well then just adapt to it,’ we did better than anybody in baseball last year, so bring it on.”

Tuesday night’s technical difficulties likely didn’t do much to soften Benetti’s stance on being forced to call games remotely.

Watch above via ESPN2

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