Watching sports without fans in stadiums will give an odd, incomplete feeling, but FOX is making adjustments to make the most of the situation.
According to FOX NFL lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, the network is planning to use fake crowd noise and virtual fans on NFL telecasts to give off more of a usual feeling for those watching at home.
“It’s pretty much a done deal. I think whoever is going to be at that control is going to have to be really good at their job and be realistic with how a crowd would react depending on what just happened on the field,” Buck told SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen. “So it’s really important. And then on top of that … they’re looking at ways to put virtual fans in the stands, so when you see a wide shot it looks like the stadium is jam-packed, and in fact, it’ll be empty.”
Joe Buck to SiriusXM’s "Andy Cohen Live": Fox Sports will pump in crowd noise and put virtual fans in the stands for NFL games in empty stadiums. SBJ Media is live: https://t.co/11fxKTc6bv pic.twitter.com/baK9S1LAsq
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) May 13, 2020
Some people may not like this, but this is exactly what needs to be done. Watching sports without fans is not the same. Even athletes have said playing without fans is a big difference and not ideal. Whatever TV crews can do to simulate the feeling of watching live sports with fans in attendance is better than not having the fan presence at all.
