Best of SI: Fake Crowds Are Stupidest Part of Socially Distant Sports

In Thursday’s Hot Clicks: the idiocy of computer-generated crowds, the return of the Premier League and more.

I think everybody realizes that sports are going to look very weird on TV for a while (unless you’re watching a game in New Zealand). There won’t be any fans to celebrate big plays, jeer lousy referees or for the cameras to cut to for reaction shots. Broadcasters face the challenge of trying to present games in ways that aren’t totally alien to viewers. 

CBS is putting microphones on golfers during PGA Tour events. Some soccer leagues are experimenting with fake crowd noise, with decidedly mixed reviews. (For the Premier League’s return, games on TV had fake crowd noise but viewers streaming online had the option to listen to the natural stadium sound.)

Some leagues, though, are deploying fake crowds. Like, filling the stands with computer generated images. 

Spain’s La Liga was the first league to give it a try when play resumed over the weekend. It looked like crap!

Are the blotches of color even supposed to be fans? It looks like Claude Monet’s worst painting. 

The final of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday also employed a CGI crowd. It didn’t look any better. 

For some reason, the effect was applied only on wide shots. During any closeups, you could see all the empty seats.

The real reason for the fake crowd should have been obvious. The Coppa Italia used it as an ad for Coca-Cola. 

Sports leagues are no doubt short on cash during this crisis, but there must be better ways to fill the gap than this.

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