The Spanish La Liga returned playing last week. With all teams having played at least one match since the restart, we could not get around talking about the "Virtual Fan Experience" Of La Liga.
While football without fans is eerily quiet, the La Liga television broadcast offers "a far livelier experience". With virtual crowd visuals and noise, La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums.
La Liga's has a partnership with Norwegian broadcasting technology firm Vizrt. As part of the "virtual fan experience", viewers see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualised" stands.
Those specators, however, look anything but great. La Liga gained the mockery of people on social media.
Spectators also hear simulated noise created by video game developer EA Sports FIFA, drawn from a back catalogue of chants from actual stadiums which will adapt to game events such as goals, chances and fouls.
"Our aim was to reproduce the same entertainment experience that viewers had before so we developed and selected technologies to create the same atmosphere," La Liga's audiovisual director Melcior Soler told Reuters.
"This is something which is not so strange in the entertainment industry. Sitcoms and late night shows add applause and laughter and we think the audience will understand that this will give a better atmosphere to the games."
Not everyone is pleased by the prospect of a simulated fan experience.
"The use of virtual images and sounds in the television broadcasts of what they are trying to sell as the return of football feels to us like a lack of respect to the fans they want to replace," said Emilio Abejon of fans group FASFE.
La Liga responded by saying: "We want to give viewers a good experience and that's why during this unusual time we have opted for virtualisation of the stands. Everyone watching it will know it isn't real, but it will enhance the viewing experience.
Spanish TV channels are offering fans to have both the actual experience (without fans) and the fake experience.
In our latest video series, we’ll be looking at what we 🧡 and 🤬 about football post-lockdown.
First up is @pacopolitENG on virtual fans and fake sound effects 🎶
He’s not a fan! 🤷♂️#LLL
🧡🇪🇸⚽️pic.twitter.com/OopcJmFALq— La Liga Lowdown 🧡🇪🇸⚽️ (@LaLigaLowdown) June 16, 2020We are looking forward to tomorrow's Premier League return to see what the world's leading league has prepared.
What do you think of La Liga trying to fake the actual stadium experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below.