because he is in England or Africa in a small studio, not NBC studios due to travel restrictions I presume. There was a big article about it in the Wall Street Journal before the Tour last year, and I know he is working in the same place this year while Bob Roll is in the States. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the only guys in the same location are the in studio guys.
That’s also why McCrossin and Gerrans took over the world feed from Keenan and McEwan last year. The Tour only allows so many in the press call the race now. I’m not sure about it this year, but last year that was the case. I’d much rather have McEwan and Keenan personally, though Gerrans is OK.
In NBC’s case, they aren’t putting any resources behind programming on NBC Sports Network programming anymore as the channel is shutting down this fall. Phil is on an open contract and won’t be replaced until he retires. As an American, that’s fine with me. It’s easy enough for me to know when he makes a mistake, so it doesn’t bother that much when you consider the alternative which would be a completely Americanized broadcast. Roll has improved and did a pretty decent job as the lead commentator with either Horner or VDV doing the commentary in the Vuelta last year, but for the Tour they’d probably dig up Trautwig out of the attic to replace Liggett.
Gerrans is now based in Australia like Keenan and McEwan - It's interesting that he has chosen to travel to Europe while Keenan and McEwan have chosen to remain in Oz - Its probably a quarantine issue.
I have seen Ligget's studio - It's cramped while his TV monitor is small. l
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