I'm completely not a fan of commentating off-site, but you could have had Costello and Williams in the best seats in the house and it would have been terrible. The selection of those two was the big issue last night.
This.
I don't think the commentary hub concept is a guaranteed fail but so far it hasn't been given a chance to succeed.
Surely the one big advantage of having the hub is being able to regularly use your best commentary combinations, since you're not having to fly people all over the country. Another advantage would be the ability to have 3 people calling games for minimal extra cost over 2 people.
So to me there is no excuse for not having a good commentary combo each game. At least have one good play-by-play person per game!!
I don't want to hate on Williams or Costello, but calling the action is clearly not the strength for either of them. Who put them in that position and why?
I'm ok with Williams being a 3rd guy in the hub who chips in occasionally with one of the 7 talking points in his repertoire, but requiring him to keep talking for a whole game is really not good for anyone. If he's going to be a #2 guy then pair him with someone like John Casey, who can call a whole game on his own with minimal other input required. Not Seb, who might be good in time but sounds out of his depth right now.