Following criticism resulting from errors made broadcasting games remotely by Toronto Maple Leafs radio play-by-play announcer Joe Bowen, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has announced the radio broadcast will be covering all action in-person beginning at the start of Round 2 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This decision came after a majority of fans voiced their displeasure with the team’s parent organization on Twitter for restricting their radio broadcasts to solely being remote.
There are surely challenges associated with remote broadcasting, largely having to do with access to players, coaches and personnel, along with the restricted visibility announcers have in watching games off of a monitor. Over the last three years, Bowen and radio color commentator Jim Ralph have called games inside Sportsnet or TSN studios based on which station is broadcasting the game. A similar setup is in place with the Toronto Blue Jays, whose radio broadcast team is not traveling to road games for the second consecutive year.
The announcement received positive feedback from Twitter users, with many expressing that calling games remotely should have never been permanently instituted as COVID-19 restrictions began to be lifted.
On Saturday night, Maple Leafs captain John Tavares scored the game-winning goal to advance his team to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Yet Bowen saw the celebration on the monitor centered around forward Morgan Reilly, leading him to assume that Reilly scored the goal instead. Shortly thereafter, Ralph noticed Tavares was the player to bury the puck in the back of the net, but at that moment, Bowen was caught up in jubilation to genuinely care about who was responsible for the momentous feat.
Listeners noted Bowen struggling with certain calls throughout the Maple Leafs’ playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning due to the remote broadcast setup. A large majority of those listeners, along with members of the sports media, assumed the move to be a cost-cutting measure and indicative of the ownership group not taking a vested interest in radio broadcasts. Now as the Maple Leafs play for their first Stanley Cup championship since 1966-67 – a 55-year drought (the longest in NHL history), the team’s radio broadcasters will join them from FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, FL when on the road against the Florida Panthers.
