FS1 aired a Bundesliga match on Tuesday between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich, the mark of live sports beginning its return to television and our day-to-day lives.
The game itself doesn’t have much to do with how Badger football games will look this fall but one thing from the broadcast did: FS1’s use of fake crowd noise in lieu of actual fans in attendance.
FOX’s Joe Buck began this conversation two weeks ago when he tweeted that FOX was working on creating virtual fan noise for its NFL broadcasts.
It doesn’t have to be over the top. But something has to be there. Contrary to the misleading headline at SI and other places – I said FOX is WORKING on virtual fans. They are working everyday on ANYTHING to make our shows the best on TV. That’s exciting to me, and I am thankful
— Joe Buck (@Buck) May 14, 2020
This actually received some backlash as fans from around the country expressed their stance that it would sound unnatural and take away from the product on the field.
Back to FS1’s soccer game broadcast, while the crowd noise did sound a bit weird at first with cheers and chants coming from the empty stands, as the broadcast continued it sounded more and more normal and by the end it made the event feel like one we would expect to see before the pandemic began.
Take this highlight, even though the commentary is in a different language.
While it’s clear that the announcer is still controlling much of the audio time, having cheers and chants in the background during the action and during lull periods normalizes the weird reality of no fans at the game and makes the broadcast infinitely more watchable.
Now what does this have to do with Wisconsin football?
Come September when the Badgers will potentially be able to begin their season there is an increasing likelihood that fans will not be able to be at the games.
For all of us watching at home, then, having noise in the background– especially during a time when cheering would normally occur–is what will become the reality and will help bring sports fans back to at least a resemblance of normalcy.
Will a virtual “jump around” do a true justice? Highly doubtful.
But FOX’s use of virtual crowd noise will be our reality this fall and will help, not hurt, the broadcast of college and NFL football.