# Sports Without Fans



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

I took off two days for the opening rounds of March Madness. I was super excited. I'm honestly not very excited to watch now without fans. I know family and essential staff will be there but mostly whistles and shoes squeaking.

Tonight the Pens play the Columbus Blue Jackets without fans so that will give me an idea.

Does anyone plan on watching the tourney without fans?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I was going to tonight - they announced during the Arkansas vs. Vanderbilt game last night that attendance to the rest of the SEC tournament in Nashville would be limited to team personnel and media only.

Fast forward to today and they cancelled the tournament - no more games will be played. I think the ACC did the same thing.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Ah, @pennstater2005 it looks like the Big 10 tournament is done too...

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2020-big-ten-tournament-canceled-thursday-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-concerns/live/


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Ware said:


> Ah, @pennstater2005 it looks like the Big 10 tournament is done too...
> 
> https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2020-big-ten-tournament-canceled-thursday-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-concerns/live/


Yeah, I saw that. I get it though.


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## dacoyne (May 27, 2018)

:evil: Now its sports without sports. No NCAAM, NHL, NBA or MLB


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Yeah, this stinks, but I get it with the rapid spread of the virus. No March Madness, no XFL. I sure hope this passes before The Masters.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Time to go enjoy your other hobbies, sports fans!


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## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

They even took golf away. What's next, NASCAR is canceled?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

kds said:


> They even took golf away. What's next, NASCAR is canceled?


The next two races are, I think.


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## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

Ware said:


> kds said:
> 
> 
> > They even took golf away. What's next, NASCAR is canceled?
> ...


What is ESPN going to talk about now?


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

kds said:


> What is ESPN going to talk about now?


What they always talk about: Politics.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

kds said:


> Ware said:
> 
> 
> > kds said:
> ...


I would watch Nicole Briscoe talk about cleaning her living room and not care.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I'm not at all impressed with Fox's attempt to inject fake fans and crowd noises into the baseball games.

I'm fine with watching a game with no fans in the stands and just listening to the commentary. I could do without them trying to make us think it's something it's not.


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

I've always preferred to listen to MLB on the radio vs watching on TV.


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## dacoyne (May 27, 2018)

Ware said:


> I'm not at all impressed with Fox's attempt to inject fake fans and crowd noises into the baseball games.
> 
> I'm fine with watching a game with no fans in the stands and just listening to the commentary. I could do without them trying to make us think it's something it's not.


This 100%, I had a hard time watching the last two games for this exact reason. I know the seats are empty! Its like driving an electric car and it pipes engine noise through the speakers while you drive.

I don't know if they are doing this in your area also but on the East Coast they have cardboard cutouts of fans in the seats behind home plate.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Premier league (England soccer), started this when they restarted the season a month or two ago. At least the games were broadcasted on two channels, with fan noise and without.

The fan noise was a technical challenge. They turned to EA to use the Xbox / PlayStation sound algorithms to match the game action with the sounds (boo for fouls, cheers for goals) in real-time.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Watching the Yankees vs. Nationals game this evening. They don't have the cheesy computer generated crowd shots, but they are injecting the ballpark background noise.

I can live with the sounds, but I wish they would use this opportunity to bring us more on-field sounds instead - stuff we can't normally hear due to the crowd. UFC is a good example - where you can now here coaching from the corners, etc.


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## Still learnin (Sep 9, 2017)

Ware said:


> Watching the Yankees vs. Nationals game this evening. They don't have the cheesy computer generated crowd shots, but they are injecting the ballpark background noise.
> 
> I can live with the sounds, but I wish they would use this opportunity to bring us more on-field sounds instead - stuff we can't normally hear due to the crowd. UFC is a good example - where you can now here coaching from the corners, etc.


I was under the impression that one of the reasons they are using the sounds is to drown out the on field banter. They don't want us hearing the trash talking and cussing.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Still learnin said:


> I was under the impression that one of the reasons they are using the sounds is to drown out the on field banter. They don't want us hearing the trash talking and cussing.


Exactly...



Ware said:


> ...I could do without them trying to make us think it's something it's not.


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## bosox_5 (Jun 20, 2018)

Tune into the PLL Lacrosse championship. You hear a lot of the "fun" words throughout the broadcast (on NBC). The Red Sox are using crowd noise. I don't mind because Fenway has a certain sound (like a dull murmur) all the time. Not hearing anything would be jarring. It is already weird seeing red seats everywhere.

Wait until Football season, that is going to be bizarre. I also don't think there will be a football season (Pro or College).


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## Getting Fat (Dec 31, 2019)

Wish I could find where, but I heard about a team in Japan (or Korea) that was selling cardboard cutout seats. You could pay to have a cardboard cutout of yourself put in the seat. OK, whatever.

BUT, if a foul ball or home run hit your cardboard cutout, you get the ball. I thought that was kinda cool.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Nothing yet has interested me without the fans in attendance. It's too big a part of the game. I hate pre season anything and that's all this feels like. Saw a guy sink a 40' putt or something last week and nada. He didn't even get excited. Grabbed his golf ball and walked off.

Hockey maybe. We'll see.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

pennstater2005 said:


> ...I hate pre season anything and that's all this feels like...


Spot-on.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Just turned on ESPN radio and heard the Marlins vs. Orioles and Yankees vs. Phillies series that were supposed to start today are being postponed due to some positive cases within the Marlins organization - who just played the Phillies.

I think the inevitable schedule disruptions are going to be another deal breaker. Baseball is probably better equipped to reschedule missed games, but what happens with football - whose schedules are already tight because they only play one game a week.

I think it will kill the chances of having any sort of meaningful standings/postseason play.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Im trying hard to get back into baseball this year. Lost interest during the 90s labor dispute.

Im actually kind ofngetting into it. I dont think ill appreciate football without the fans though.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

And don't get me wrong - some sports is probably better than no sports. I just think they need to be mindful of the quality of the product they're putting out.

Also, I like to watch sports to get my mind off things. Today when baseball started postponing games because of the virus, they went from being a way to relax and get away from all the bad news - to being the bad news. :bd:


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## bosox_5 (Jun 20, 2018)

Ware said:


> Also, I like to watch sports to get my mind off things. Today when baseball started postponing games because of the virus, they went from being a way to relax and get away from all the bad news - to being the bad news. :bd:


This is why I have been mowing the lawn so much. No Covid news while on the mower


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

HoosierLawnGnome said:


> I'm trying hard to get back into baseball this year. Lost interest during the 90s labor dispute.


I love playing golf and the PGA is the only professional sport I watch any more. It's one of few sports where character and honor are actually part of the game. I really missed The Masters this Spring.

I suspect the recent injection of politics into certain professional sports has repulsed a lot of people. For me it was the 1981 MLB strike. I was a Braves fanatic until that moment. It broke my heart and I never watched another MLB game. I followed both the NFL and NBA in the 80s and early 90s. I can't remember how these industries drove me away. Too people involved from Management to Players are just... let's say.... unsavory characters.

My recent concern is that college football is tainted. With paid players looming, I suspect it's only a matter of time before NCAA Division 1 football completes its devolution into the "NFL Minor League". But this may be for the best in the long run. We can boot all Division 1 programs off campus so that college sports can go back to true student athletes. If so, I might be able to actually afford to attend and enjoy a game again.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

I just want to watch a sport and take a break from politics.

Same for music.

Getting harder and harder to find that.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I will watch baseball without the sound on ordinarily anyway. I prefer full sound for football, though.

I really like watching MotoGP racing, so not having fans for racing is not a big issue for me....

For basketball, you really need fan noise. It is a huge part of the arena experience for momentum.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

The fake crowd noise is growing on me - or maybe it's the tequila.


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## testwerke (Apr 4, 2019)

F1 is fine without fans!


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I just saw the Big Ten school presidents voted 12-2 to not play fall sports.


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## BigBoxLawn (Jul 8, 2020)

As a Michigan fan, I appreciate the chance to not clench my buttcheeks whenever i hear THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY for a while. Really sucks though!


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

On the plus side I'm getting lots of stuff done around the house :lol:


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Ware said:


> I just saw the Big Ten school presidents voted 12-2 to not play fall sports.


Pete Thamel reported that the vote hasn't yet happened. I'm not sure what to expect, but there is a LOT of smoke.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

@Spammage I just read a similar report from Mark Schlabach:



> ...On Sunday, ESPN first reported that Big Ten presidents, following a meeting on Saturday, were ready to cancel the fall sports season, and they wanted to gauge whether commissioners and university presidents and chancellors from the other Power 5 conferences -- the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC -- will fall in line with them.
> 
> Sources told ESPN that a vast majority of Big Ten presidents have indicated that they would vote to postpone the football season, hopefully to the spring. The Big Ten presidents met again Sunday night but didn't vote and took no action, according to a league spokesman...


Sounds like maybe they just floated it out there with hopes that more leagues would fall in line.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

This was earlier this morning, but DP's source said the decision would be announced tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/dpshow/status/1292810469779136512?s=20

https://twitter.com/dpshow/status/1292817293647413248?s=20


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

So it's official now? I hate that.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Be interesting to see if SEC, Big 12 and ACC continue on with their seasons without the Big 10 and Pac 12.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Come on back Nebraska, Texas doesn't have teeth anymore.


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