I just saw on my local news (KING 5 News, Seattle) highlights from the Bundesliga, in a match that took place this morning, featuring Borussia Dortmund hosting Schalke, and saw what looks like without fans in the stands, players have to be 6-feet apart (via social distancing protocol), I wonder what kind of numbers they drew (in the form of TV numbers like our Nielsen ratings here in the States). Now with that in mind, will the Premier League draw bigger or smaller TV audiences knowing that this will be the only way that fans can see their favorite team play, even without fans in attendance??? Will it look more or less appealing, to both fans, and, most importantly, to advertisers who cater to us viewers on the networks that cover football matches??? I would love to get some of your takes on this, would YOU watch the Gunners, even without 60,000 of your fellow Gooners at The Emirates cheering them on??? I'm ready for some Premier League footy right about now, but, ARE YOU???
Will it be less appealing? Absolutely. It will come across with all the pomp and circumstance of a scrimmage. Especially since the players can't even group hug after a goal it will be much subdued. That said I'm watching with all the same fever because a) I know this is temporary and b) I'm a fan of the sport and my clubs, so I'm simply tuning in to one match but for everything that comes with it: The history of the clubs, the pedigree of the players, the fight for table positions, etc. It my look like a scrimmage but obviously there are stakes to be had otherwise they're not bothering to play. Now if this goes on for, say, a year then maybe I'm not watching every match or watching with the same enthusiasm. For now I'm chalking this all up as a temporary conditional thing so I can roll with it. But hopefully this will illustrate to all the owners and broadcast sponsors the role the fans play in making the event what it is, and cause them to give a little more attantion to the desires of the fans actually showing up. Keep the prices fair, give space for the die-hards who will stand and sing, and work to make their experience worthwhile so that in exchange every game has the atmosphere fans crave when watching on TV.
Honestly I just wanna watch a game. I watched 2 bundesliga games yesterday and the lack of fans didn't phase me at all.
I had the opposite reaction, the games didn’t feel important. They felt more like scrimmages and I ended up turning them off. It will be less of an issue when I have a rooting interest in the teams playing, but I think it’s still going to feel weird. In the absence of a crowd, were the games played with the same intensity you would normally expect?
I would say no but that likely had more to do with conditioning than the crowds. Everyone's first game in weeks.
I don't support any Bundesliga teams and don't watch them outside of CL or EL matches, and I watched 5 games over the weekend. I know in Aus we are sport hungry. Most people I know are smashing through sports docos like The Last Dance and 30 for 30 etc while we wait for live sport to return.
I'll watch but if they don't do something about the echo the Dortmund game had last week, I'll mute it. Not sure if the other games had that, but it was awful.