NBA Games Without Fans? How Intriguing…

By Cooper Banks

The NBA may soon join other professional and amateur sports organizations pushing for scheduled games to continue without fans in the stands.  Of course, if it happens, we can thank the ongoing fear over COVID-19.

What an intriguing social experiment that would be, right?.

Sports leagues and teams in other countries (soccer in Italy) are already taking this step, but very few sports fans in the U.S. have experienced what it’s like to watch a game without any crowd atmosphere.

What happens when there are big moments in the game?  How do players react when they’re making huge plays with no one to cheer, clap, stomp, or make noise?  How does the broadcast crew avoid wide shots of the non-crowd?  Do they avoid those wide shots?  How do they fill the time that’s typically reserved for live shots of individuals in the crowd?

What are we the sports TV viewers losing – by losing the live, in-person crowd?

Will this convince more people to simply stay at home and watch sports instead of going and watching in person?

Also — what about the concession workers and the other employees at – say – Moda Center (or the Rose Quarter)?  What happens with them?  What happens for the janitors, beer and merch sellers, ushers, etc?

Our great producer/reporter Grant McHill put the question to the Portland Trail Blazers.  Here is their response;

“Trail Blazers games and Rose Quarter events will continue as scheduled.  We are in contact with local and state health authorities along with the NBA and will continue to take all necessary actions to create a safe and healthy environment for our guests.  As this is an evolving situation, we will continue to evaluate our response and whether additional safeguards or other measures are needed.”

So — it sounds like “we’ll wait and see”, but I would encourage anyone to approach with curiosity any future crowd-=free U.S. sports games.  It could be a really interesting thing.