Premier League football – or 'soccer', if you'd prefer – is about to make its long-awaited return following the cancellation of matches amid the coronavirus outbreak, but games will be played behind closed doors, which means no crowds and therefore no atmosphere.
To ensure these matches – which are being televised – still have some spirit, UK broadcaster Sky Sports has confirmed that it will use crowd sounds taken directly from EA's FIFA to liven things up a bit.
Artificial crowd noise has already been added to Bundesliga matches in Germany, where it has met with a mostly positive response, despite being totally fake. We guess it's the sporting equivalent of canned laughter on TV sitcoms?
The Premier League is expected to return on Sunday 17th June. Sky's coverage kicks off with Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United and Manchester City vs. Arsenal, and the broadcaster will be showing 64 matches in total – 39 of which will be exclusive to its paying subscribers. An additional 25 games will be screened via Sky's Pick channel, which is available on Freeview in the UK.
[source eurogamer.net, via pushsquare.com]
Comments 19
I hope, when a player scores a goal, they still celebrate as if there is a crown going crazy. That'd be too funny not to watch.
I'm really curious to see how/if this works... it's going to be very, very strange!
I hope there's like nobody in the stands but they use real loud cheering. Hehe
I'd imagine this is more to drown out players 'colorful' language rather than any other reason.
@DockEllisD What @Vivid_viking said - I've heard some very choice language when I've been at live games and close to the pitch!
As an Italian, I'll say that we're going to get a more respectful and accurate portrayal in videogames in a single soccer season than we have in the 31 years I've spent on this planet.
@Damo
Nothing will ever beat Francesco Totti's rebuttal when his team (Roma, Rome) ended up scoring four goals. He motioned to an opponent the following: pointer finger to the nose ("shut up"), four fingers sticking up ("four"), and then moved the hand downwards like a fan ("go home").
Hopefully the idea works so well that they do this forever. Would be great to not have people flood the streets where I live everytime there's a match (I live near a very famous stadium).
Will they use 'Legacy' crowd noises from FIFA19, but charge the Premier League the same?
Unfortunately, Baudrillard isn't around anymore to write an essay about this and the encroachment of simulation over reality — but, then again, that essay writes itself. And it's funnier than anything Baudrillard wrote.
Please don't use the fifa commentary. Lee Dixon is so dull. It's been weird in the bundesliga, I said I would watch every game, but it's just not the same without the fans, I'm only checking YouTube highlights if I see an interesting scoreline.
A better idea would be to have a bunch of opposing fans in a zoom meeting, so they can sing their club specific songs and taunt each other on the hop, like in real life, then pipe in that sound. Fifa just has the generic songs everyone sings.
Hopefully it leads to lower views.
Live sports without crowds is going to be lame.
Spectators? Bzzt!
Football players lovingly (and sweatily) caressing each other after a hard-earned goal? Ding!
I know Australian rugby has been doing this. You can also have a cardboard cutout of yourself put in the grandstand
Please no!
This will be the football equivalent of canned laughter. Canned laughter has ruined many sitcoms; please don’t let canned cheering ruin Football.
Well at last they won't have to worry about racist and homophobic chants or actions! Also, not a boozed up fight for the whole season! Bliss.
Nice! I was hoping they'd do that too.
I... I'm not a sports fan, so I just don't understand this at all. People want the noise?
I guess it sets the mood or something.
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