With the coronavirus pandemic gradually receding in other parts of the world to give way to the resumption of several activities, we see more and more sports events being held across the globe. Football is arguably the most anticipated of them all and though its celebrated players and arenas remain the same, the game is back in a whole new format.
A big difference is the absence of crowds in the stadiums, as countries still implement movement restrictions to curb the Covid-19 spread. The broadcast experiences are thus impaired, with practically no chants, celebrations or even background noises of any kind. Its just the players battling it out as if in a training session.
La Liga, Spain¡¯s primary football division, has taken measures to counter this. With the league hosting its first match after the pandemic last night, it made sure that the audio visual appeal of the competition is intact, if not better than a real crowd.
A local derby between Seville clubs Real Betis and Sevilla FC saw the use of visuals provided by Norwegian broadcasting tech company Vizrt, to give the impression of a live audience. In addition to this, La Liga has reportedly collaborated with EA Sports to bring in reactive crowd noise for its matches.
At one look, you would not notice the absence of a crowd in the game. But once you remember that there is supposed to be no attendance in the stadium, a closer look will reveal a continuous texture on the empty seats. Of course, these are not individually designed visuals through CGI. But it is safe to say that the visuals manage to fulfill their purpose well and you would, in fact, take them for a crowd most of the time, just like in a game of FIFA.
A similar addition of audio was observed in the game. There was a constant background score humming with varying intensity and volume as per the action in the game. Consider it like the sound you hear in a FIFA game with the commentary off. A convincing deal, in short.
The immersive experience is cut short from time to time as the camera angle changes during the game. You see, the illusivel crowd is only available with the main broadcast camera angle. As and when the angle changes for a closeup or a shot on goal, the absence of crowd is noticeable.
La Liga is not the only league to have used audio-visual aid to enhance the immersive experience of the games. English Premier League will also include fake crowd noise in its free-to-air coverage by Sky Sports, Telegraph Sport reveals in a recent report.
German league Bundesliga that resumed on Sunday carried a similar artificially generated crowd noise. A thing to remember is that these noises are not heard by the players on the field but only by the viewers.
Melcior Soler, audiovisual director of La Liga, claims the La Liga¡¯s effects to be different. ¡°We respect a lot what the Bundesliga are doing and the Premier League, and the NBA, but what we are doing will be different,¡± he told The Athletic. ¡°We are thinking of this as a televised entertainment spectacle. What we are going to do is make you recall what you are used to seeing when the stadiums are full.¡±
And with that effort, La Liga might just have started a new trend for football games in the post Covid-19 era.