What to do?
I am all in favor of doing everything possible to replicate the real experience. While images of fans in the seats is a strange concept, it’s better than empty seats. Piped in noise…real crowd noise…should be used without fear of damaging egos.
I’ve experienced what a silent sporting event is like a few times. In Japan, there is no spontaneous crowd noise during baseball games. The only cheers are organized and come from rooting sections complete with banners, horns and drums. Other than that, you can hear a pin drop. It’s strange.
The only hockey experience similar was when I went to a Minnesota North Stars home game in a snowstorm in December 1976. They were playing the Rangers in the Twin Cities and there were only 8,000 fans (probably fewer due to no shows) in the arena. I was actually able to move from one end of the rink to the other so I could watch the Rangers score. And score they did, winning 11-4.
Due to the lopsided game, the North Star fans were pretty hushed and you could hear the crack of puck on the sticks and the players yelling to each other. It was a strange feeling and a peek at the future if the league doesn’t go the canned audio route.
Believe me, the NHL doesn’t want hockey games to feel like one-sided road victories or a computer game when it comes to crowd involvement. With all of the technology we have at our fingertips, let the television folks figure out a way to make these games feel as real as possible. It can’t hurt.
Feel free to weigh in…