By Jessica Jimenez — Reporter
Empty stadiums will be all the rage whenever the coronavirus pandemic clears up.
Can you see it?
No, because you’re not invited.
Not because professional athletes don’t want you there, rather it’s for your safety and well-being.
Instead you’ll have to get used to watching games on your laptop, smartphone, tablet or at the local bar down the street if they let you in.
Social distancing will persist and, because of the six-foot rule, might even limit how many people are let into bars and restaurants for viewing sporting events.
So, how would these fanless stadiums and venues look?
In 2015, the Baltimore Orioles played a game at a crowdless Camden Yards because the cities‘ unrest over the death of Freddie Gray. The decision to throw a pitch that day with 46,000 empty seats was unprecedented for professional sports.
But here we are. Just picture it for a second, though.
No customer service representatives are needed to answer your concerns because there are no tickets to scan.
Instead of lines streaming from outside the stadium to get through security, only a handful are on site to protect the premises and star athletes. Needless to handle rowdy fans.
No need for food servers to grill your $12 artisan polish dog with extra onions and serve you your $11.50 craft beer. You won’t be there to smell the aroma anyway.
No use for ushers guiding lost fans to their seats.
Did you want to buy that bootleg sports team shirt after the game for $20 because there was no way in hell you were going to buy the $45 one sold at the team store.
Even if you wanted to, you can’t, remember. You’re not allowed on site.
The stadium won’t be the only thing vacant.
An empty fan parking lot on game day would be a shocking sight to see.
No tailgating or game day parties? How un-American.
Athletes and coaches feed off of the fans’ energy. Would they feel less motivated because no one is there to support them? Probably not.
For football, basketball and hockey would there be cheerleaders cheering them on?
Possibly, but that just adds more people in the venue and we said it would be fanless didn’t we?
Camera angles would improve because fans would not be in the way and cameramen may be able to produce new shots viewers have never seen before.
Without an audience in attendance making excessive noise, all of the trash talking on the sideline will be heard.
Television networks, their executives and producers would need to continue to have a seven-second delay or more for national and local networks just to be safe on what the fans could hear from a live sports game.
In recent years, the NBA plays music during games to get the energy flowing through the arena for fans.
For other sports, would there be music playing the whole time to sound out broadcasters, television and radio analysts for the athletes to concentrate on the game?
Maybe the NHL, MLB, NFL and MLS will follow the suit just like the NBA.
What a new sports world this will be. The globe is forever changed because of the pandemic.
Fans will get comfortable watching games in the comfort of their homes.
It’s for the best. It’s the wisest choice for the athletes and the planet.
Just sit back, relax, crack open a cold one and eat your homemade polish dog in front of your screen of choice.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @jessicajim06
