In order to provide some degree of normalcy during strange times, Fox will be taking fans out to the ballgame with a virtual crowd during MLB broadcasts this season.
When the network broadcasts its first three games of the season on Saturday — Brewers at Cubs, Giants at Dodgers and Yankees at Nationals — it will stick computer-generated fans in the stands for the benefit of viewers at home.
Fox worked in tandem with Silver Spoon, a real-time animation and virtual production studio, to recreate fake fans who appear lifelike as well as three-dimensional and can pull off up to 500 actions, ranging from high fives to doing the wave.
“The original concept sounds like something that would never even happen — pie in the sky,” Fox Sports executive vice president Brad Zager told The New York Post. “Pretty quick after this pandemic hit we thought we could be in a position to produce games without crowds. We were dead set on trying to make the broadcast with no crowd feel as authentic and organic as possible. We want to give people an escape.”
No fans? Not on FOX Sports.
Thousands of virtual fans will attend FOX’s MLB games this Saturday. pic.twitter.com/z9oQU0rYuC
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 23, 2020
As it appears that most NFL stadiums also will not be permitting fans when the league kicks off in September, Fox is also discussing inserting a virtual crowd into its football coverage.
“We will learn a lot,” Zager said. “The NFL has been partnering with us and knows where we are in this process, and we will continue to work with them as we get closer to NFL season in rolling it out there, if we do.”
MLB’s 2020 season will begin tonight with Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing out the first pitch when the Nationals host the Yankees — if the game isn’t rained out.
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