I guess it’s a function of the kind of gigs I tend to work- The stage tends to not exist before we walk in. And if you’ve got 32+ stage inputs, it’s certainly nicer to run a couple of fibre lines than a chonky stage snake with 32+ XLR lines.
The only difference between the digital boards you’ve seen is the digital conversion circuitry is not in the same box as the mixing circuitry.