This is what piped-in crowd noise sounds like for TV viewers of a sporting event
Broadcaster Joe Buck caused a bit of a stir earlier this month when he said Fox Sports was considering the addition of artificial crowd noise at NFL games this fall.
With the uncertainty of when sports might begin, there is a possibility the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS and Major League Baseball might play games in empty stadiums/arenas.
Some fans at first were appalled by the idea of artificial sounds, but then baseball games began in South Korea and soccer started up in Germany. Television viewers of both sports couldn’t help but notice the near silence in stadiums which didn’t have fans because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Suddenly, piped-in sound didn’t sound like such a bad idea.
That’s why the Sports Business Journal reported networks in the United States may add crowd noise to games without fans.
“We are looking at more than just pumping in audio,” Brad Zager, Fox Sports’ executive produce and head of production and operations told the Business Journal. “We’re looking at trying to figure out how to score a game live. How do we make sure that we have something that sounds authentic?”
When the Bundesliga began play in Germany, the first games didn’t have artificial noise. But that has changed, and this is what it sounds like with pumped-in fan sounds:
