Posted on 05/14/2020 9:03:40 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Stadiums may be empty when/if football starts its season this fall, but some games probably wont look or sound that way.
Fox is exploring ways to fill the empty National Football League venues with digitally-added fans and crowd noises, Fox Sports announcer Joe Buck said during an interview on Andy Cohens SiriusXM radio show.
I think Fox and these networks have to put crowd noise under us to make it a normal viewing experience at home, USA Today reports Buck said, adding that the audio component was pretty much a done deal.
He added: I think whoevers 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, so its really important.
But having crowd noises without a crowd would be seriously weird, so Fox also is 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, itll be empty due to measures instituted to slow the spread of coronavirus, Buck said.
In addition to its Thursday Night Football match-ups (which start Oct. 8 ), FOX Sports NFL Sunday schedule includes at least 98 regular-season games. Fox Sports NFL slate is scheduled to kick off with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers/New Orleans Saints match-up on Sunday, Sept. 13. (Earlier this month, the NFL released its (optimistic) 256-game schedule, which kicks off in early September.)
A recent Sports Business Journal article examined why networks would want to fill the stands with pixels if they cant do so with fans. When you see events that dont have fans, you really understand what is missing, said Jon Slusser, owner and partner of The Famous Group, a technology firm that deals with fan experiences.
Slusser said that his firm was in talks with nearly every major sports league and TV network: Its an incredible realization of how important fans and that energy are to live events, and what makes live events special and gives it the energy, gravity, importance and life.
Even better, will have Guess the Celebrity Behind the Mask, with virtual Richard Dawson reprising his Running Man game show host role.
Nah, they’ll call their pals in follywood to do some CGI fans.
They should hire EA Sports. They’ve been doing virtual fans for ages. And actually pretty well. They are definitely responsive to the action. Especially in the NHL series.
The Korean baseball league has cardboard cutouts behind home plate.
Stoooopid.
Gutless.
I am not suggesting any computer geeks do this, but it would be amusing if hacked virtual fans shouted obscenities and other politically incorrect commentary... ;-)
Until November 4th apparently.
Sell tickets to every other row and have a 2 seat buffer between the ones sold. Give out gloves masks and whatever else with the team logos on them.
Star Trek - Bread and Circuses?
It will be just like soccer.
I'm sure they'll program the crowd to be ethnically and gender-dysphorically diverse. Get rid of the white guys because they've turned away years ago.
They can outsource the coding to China.
Adding fake sounds and audio to an already staged event is only hastening it becoming more like video games, which is just one of the things people have been turning to instead of unwatchable football.
This is the league that added teams, salary caps, games in Europe, Thursday night games, and jumped on various left wing agendas in an attempt to stem it's decline in viewership.
This is the league where the Seattle Seahawks got caught broadcasting crowd noise from speakers during live games to drown out their opposing teams play calling.
This is the league that added fake fireworks to the broadcast after the Denver Broncos won the Superbowl. (Yes, even that long ago)
This isn't even cheering for the uniforms (Seinfeld reference), it's cheering for a digital representation of something during a 3+ hour television commercial.
Love the pic of the pan pots on the old style radio board. Years ago, while using a board like that at the radio station I worked for to run a Dodger game on the radio, I used a sound effect to enhance the game.
It was a Spring training game, pretty dull, with little action so I took a sound effects record and cued up a cut and added the sound of a small plane crashing in the background. I kept the volume low so it wasn’t too overpowering. It was funny and we got several calls from listeners who laughed when we told them it was a joke!
Reminds me of sportscasters of old who recreated baseball games as they received wire reports of the action. They would supply sound effects like the crack of bats for hits and outs.
Sports is dead. They’ve turned it all into fantasy productions.
I almost posted Drusilla with it. :-)
I think Fox and these networks have to put crowd noise under us to make it a normal viewing experience at home, USA Today reports Buck said, adding that the audio component was pretty much a done deal.
Hey, Joe - it’s NOT NORMAL.
For the Browns games, they could add a laugh track instead.
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