After months of lockdown, countries are slowly easing up restrictions and allowing certain activities to start-up in limited fashion following strict precautions and guidelines. As such the European governments have also allowed live sports events and league to followup and start in a limited fashion.
The Premier League, often referred to as the English Premier League or the EPL, is returning after a long three-month pause caused due to the emergency Coronavirus Lockdown. The English Premier League will return on 17th June with the teams playing in empty stadiums due to safety precautions.
With large crowds and gatherings forbidden the sports leagues will continue competitions in empty stadiums and arenas filled with nothing but silence. For avid sports fans and viewers, this setup may feel unnatural and might tick some people off from viewing the league.
To combat this issue, Sky Sports partnered up with EA Sports FIFA to include a range of bespoke and team-specific crowd noises and chants to bring the vibrant atmosphere of the Premier League to the viewers sitting at home. Sky Sports has also introduced a number of other new features that a viewer can use to further enhance their viewing experience.
One such feature is called “Sky Sports Fanzone”, where viewers can join a lobby and watch select matches with friends in a video room and interact with each other in realtime while the action unfolds, giving them the chance to chat about the match and influence the crowd noise they hear on screen.
Announcing these new features, Sky Sports managing director Robert Webster said:
“With live sport on hold for over two months, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we broadcast in new ways to bring fans together, even if they can’t meet up to watch the match.”
“Sky has always been a leader in innovative sports broadcasting, and we’re excited by this opportunity to share something really special with the whole nation. We want Sky Sports viewers to still feel it all and have the best possible viewing experience – even if they can’t be in the stadiums or watch with their family and friends.”
Following this example, other leagues are also considering to include crowd noises and fake cheers in their live broadcast to enhance viewing experience of viewers at home as Coronavirus precautions won’t allow stadiums to open-up for audiences.
