Fox Sports will add virtual fans to MLB games. Here is how it looks and sounds.
There’s been a mixed reaction to piped-in fan sounds at Major League Baseball games during Summer Camp exhibitions.
But Fox Sports will take that up a notch with its national broadcast games for the regular season.
The network will have virtual fans in the stands for its Saturday games, the network said Thursday. The fake crowd will boo and cheer at (we hope) appropriate times.
“The original concept sounds like something that would never even happen — pie in the sky,” Fox Sports executive vice president Brad Zager told The New York Post. “Pretty quick after this pandemic hit we thought we could be in a position to produce games without crowds.
“We were dead set on trying to make the broadcast with no crowd feel as authentic and organic as possible. We want to give people an escape.”
The Post story notes the virtual fans could be used for NFL games if that becomes necessary.
Here is what the fake crowd looks and sounds:
You can read more of the Post story here.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 9:26 AM.
