>There are plenty of people who tune in specifically for the
>crew calling the game. I know people who watch sports on mute,
>while listening to the same broadcast on the radio because of
>their preferences.

and the two are not even in the same stratosphere regarding importance and skill/difficulty level.

to your point, some will mute the tv play by play crew because if the announcers are bad, it can ruin the entire watching experience. and it's not at all uncommon for announcers to be downright bad because it's a really really hard thing to be good at. the number of announcers who are great at what they do are really few and far between. but despite that, nobody is checking in specifically to hear a particular announcer.

and along those lines, the idea that anybody is checking in for a specific sideline announcer...cmon.

I like Taylor. She's a pro. But the amount of money being thrown at her is pretty funny to me.