Pro Leagues During the Pandemic
I was curious as to how people are responding to the ongoing starts to or resumption of seasons in professional leagues across America and the rest of the world. I have a few questions to gauge how other assumed sports fanatics are feeling about them:
1. Watching sports without crowds is weird. Which league do you feel is least affected by empty stadiums?
2. How will you personally remember each of these seasons? Is there an asterisk to each champion, or is adaptability to extreme environment/personnel changes as big of a factor to a championship as a team's performance under normal rules?
3. Have you watched more or less sports than you thought you would when they resumed?
4. Of the following five, which have been your favorite to watch during this time? (MLB, NBA, NHL, Golf, Soccer (Premier/Champions League, MLS, etc.))
5. What are the biggest takeaways that will come from Pandemic sports?
August 10th, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
FWIW, here are my answers:
1. MLB. Most small-market teams contend with barren stadiums during weekday April/May games anyway, plus I'm a Tigers fan so watching them play in full ballparks would be weird based on the last few years.
2. For me, everything gets an asterisk. This would be especially true for college sports, which is why I'm not that upset if they get cancelled. College football and basketball are so dependent on having hostile home/road environments where if those are taken away then much of what makes the sports themselves memorable goes away with it.
3. Less. I'm a huge basketball fan but I've watched 10 minutes max of the NBA since their restart in Orlando.
4. Can't wait for people to make fun of me for this, but it has to be Soccer. Perhaps it's because I wasn't watching as regularly before that I don't notice the lack of fans as much. I've also noticed that the slower-paced sports are more enjoyable for me to watch than the faster-pace ones (i.e. baseball, golf and soccer over NBA and NHL), which is why I think lack of crowds are having more of an affect on the faster sports than the slower ones.
5. To me it's been encouraging to see how networks have broadcasted these events, production quality seems to be much better. For example, ESPN basically took the whole day to broadcast the PGA championship this weekend, it definitely was a cooler experience than what would typically be a broadcast cut on both ends by some form of sportscenter or first take.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
I enjoy watching tiger games. No annoying fans like the one guy in Cleveland who yells the entire game and is picked up by the mics.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
1. Golf.
2. I don't know.
3. Less sports actually.
4. MLB.
5. I don't know.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
The entire fucking year 2020 is an asterisk **
Playing in empty stadiums, arenas, etc has to suck for the athletes.... specially playoff hockey
August 10th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
I've enjoyed the hockey games. There's so much action on the ice to hear, and the announcers are non-stop, so I don't notice the lack of crowd noise. Also, after watching so many outdoor games where you can't see the fans, ever game looks like the Winter Classic.
And there's no need for an asterisk in baseball. We've had strike-shortened seasons before and there was no asterisk. The fans know what happened and that's why outside of San Antonio, the Spurs don't get as much credit for their title in 1999.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
I thought I would watch almost no sports as they returned. I've watched at least a little bit of everything. Baseball has been the hardest to get back into because they've handled it the worst IMO.
I think soccer has been affected by no fans the least because most broadcasts don't have crowds as a large part of it until something big happens. Same with baseball. I have liked the no crowds to a point. Get to hear the players and coaches more, which is cool.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
1. Every MLB game feels like I'm watching a Rays home game.
2. I don't watch hockey, so I don't know how they're doing. I wouldn't put an asterisk next to the NBA, if it continues to work for them in Orlando. They'll have completed 85% of the regular season and an entire postseason -- more than in their two most recent lockout years. It will be an unusual season, for certain, but a legit one. MLB's season is a joke, and the NFL's won't be much better, I expect.
3. I've watched less than I hoped I would, but about as much as I thought I would. Full-time work + full-time toddler care gives me little time to watch the games.
4. When I have been able to watch, I've enjoyed the NBA games. They have a good energy and at times I can forget that they're playing in an empty gym. I like the virtual fan screens they utilize, and hope I can get on one at some point during the postseason.
5. If the NBA virtual fans work, I can see more development being put into that technology, and combining it in some fashion with the VR games that they've been producing. It could be multiple seasons before we can actually attend games for real -- I'd look into getting a VR headset and watching games that way. Do fans actually need to be in the arenas and stadiums? Or can we watch the game virtually, and maybe purchase "tickets" so that we're "next to" friends and family also watching the game virtually? Or even random strangers like at the actual stadium/arena? I don't know, but it seems like an investment could be made to find out.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
Auto Racing has been the least affected imo, because the sounds of the competition are so driven by the engine noise that it's not like you ever notice fan cheering anyway, so fans being gone isn't really noticeable. The only real hint during an F1 race that things aren't normal is when they go to the podium.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
I'm mostly watching baseball and golf. I really haven't noticed the missing crowds. I think football and basketball would be the most affected by the lack of crowds as crowds tend to influence officials, coaches, and players behavior. I think it would probably help Michigan as our crowds generally suck in comparison to opponents.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
For me it's been Golf and Baseball.
I just cant get into the politics the NBA is pushing down our throats and I've never really been an NHL person.
Least impacted: Auto racing.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
I'm interested to see how the NBA and NHL look when the playoffs kick in. At least with the NBA, few of these games really "matter" because there isn't a home court to fight over or anything like that. Teams are fighting for seeding but it doesn't seem like there's as much urgency. But the winner of the championship this year will be a "real" champ, and so it'll be interesting to see how that switch changes once the playoffs kick into gear.
August 10th, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^
1) Baseball. Unless you’re dealing with October baseball or are watching a rivalry series like Yankees/Red Sox, crowds hardly ever seem like a factor in baseball.
2) Asterisk, especially in baseball where entire teams are postponing or canceling games.
3) Less. Far less. I’ll probably watch the Stanley Cup playoffs, or at least the conference finals and finals themselves, but baseball is boring to watch on TV even in normal times, I don’t care for NASCAR, Tennis or Golf either way, and I’ve never been much of an NBA guy. I hate how politicized their game is now. Granted, they’re playing and I’m not, it’s their platform to do what they want. Just ain’t my bag. We’ve watched plenty of new shows, especially now that the wife and I are both on paternity/maternity leave. Barry, The Last Kingdom, 30 Rock, 24, Arrested Development just to name a few. That has been the majority of our TV time.
4) probably the NHL, just because it’s a fun game to watch anyway. Especially the postseason.
5) I don’t need sports as bad as I thought I would. I’ll miss college football for sure, and if we lost March Madness two years in a row it’d really suck. But I’d get over it after a day or two and just move on. It’s amazing what else you can fill your day with. And we will at least have the NFL. I don’t think that train is stopping.
August 10th, 2020 at 12:08 PM ^
1. When all the Kneeling started I stopped watching PRO sports..SICK of sports becoming political thats not why I watched.
2. No fans means BORING
3.NHL is about the only sane non political sport left
4. Biggest takeway? the NCAA is DEAD! it will not recover and college athletics as we know it is gone..many sports will not be able to survive the economic punch to gut so there will be far less sporting events in the future..without football and the NCAA BB tourney money gone Schools will have NO MONEY...