CGI Fans and Fake Crowd Noise to be Added to Eagles Broadcasts

We all have been waiting with anticipation to find out about the future of sports amid this global pandemic. With festivals, concerts and big events already being cancelled for the rest of the year, the question of whether or not basketball, baseball and football would be as well remained up in the air. Despite the uncertainty, the official schedule for the 2020 NFL season was released a couple of weeks ago. Should the season start on time in August, we might be looking at games without spectators.

According to USA Today,  Fox Sports' lead play-by-play analyst, Joe Buck, says that the network is exploring different options to make viewing games on television as close to normal as possible despite the stands being empty.

"There's probably going to be a season in doing games with no fans, which will be difficult," Buck said in an interview with SirusXM. "I think Fox and these networks have to put crowd noise under us to make it a normal viewing experience at home."

In fact, Buck is almost 100 percent certain that adding crowd noise will be added to broadcasts. "I know they'll do it. It's pretty much a done deal," he said.  "I think whoever's 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 it's really important."

Crowd noises, cheer, boos, and chants all add to the experience of watching an NFL game. Could you imagine watching a silent Eagles game? Also, could you imagine watching a game with no one in the stands? That's why the idea of CGI fans in the stands is also up for discussion.

"On top of that, they're 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 it'll be empty," Buck said.