NEWSLETTER
With baseball POTENTIALLY returning in a month, it’s fun to think about how the sport could handle the lack of crowds and crowd noise (the absence of which sports’ return in other countries have shown is indeed a little more jarring than we might expect).
Although it’s an idea that’s come up in the basketball world, it could easily have applicability to other sports:
Mark Cuban said in an interview that the NBA is experimenting with different ways to filter in fans' cheers to Orlando for the games. One idea included an app that would let fans record from home and allow their voices to be broadcast throughout the arena.https://t.co/1JQ75xhOmF
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) June 21, 2020
In a recent interview with Steve Serby of the New York Post, Cuban explained that the NBA has a handful of ideas for this issue, including one, in particular, that would involved the fans of the ‘home’ team as much as possible.
“There will be a lot of technology we will be experimenting with to try to introduce noise and make the event more entertaining for players and TV viewers,” Cuban told the New York Post. “We have been having a lot of fun with apps that allow fans to push noise they make at home into the arena. So not only will there be competition on the court, there will be competition from fans to contribute energy as well.”
It’s basically the audio-only version of the show-the-fans-on-the-video-board thing, and if you could figure out the tech – and figure out how to block unsavory elements from getting too loud – then it sounds kinda awesome.
That is especially true in a world where increased player participation during games – one of the things that was to be expected of them if there were a new deal for this season – is not going to be there. No extra field mics, no live mics for players, etc. Unless there’s a side agreement on that, then the league will have to be willing to get more creative on the audio side. Balance the natural sounds of the game with something fun.
And if it’s me screaming “OH NOW YOU’RE CALLING THE OUSIDE CORNER OF F**KING COURSE!” at my phone while I watch, then so be it.
