These fans in December 2020 enjoy a Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball game, even though the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic causes fans to wear a mask and sit next to cardboard cutouts. IMAGE//INSTAGRAM @kentuckymbb
Nobody will ever forget what happened when the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic. Stores, schools and work offices were all shut down. For a while, people were afraid to even leave their homes. In the sports world, tournaments, games and even seasons were cancelled due to the fear of the pandemic. When the world lost sports, people panicked. They felt as though they had lost the one thing that keeps them sane. They had lost their escape from life’s problems.
“They were shutting down college basketball games at halftime because nobody knew what was happening and knew what to do,” said Mike Conti, a radio personality and sportscaster at 92.9 The Game, located in Atlanta, Georgia. “I just remember thinking ‘Who’s to say that…from a business standpoint, sports will survive, or that these professional leagues will survive? This could be it. This could be the last game I ever call.’”
Eventually, sports returned with precautions to keep athletes safe, but still provide entertainment fans stuck at home could try to escape to, even for a little while. The one thing that made things uncomfortable when watching these sports in bubble formats was not seeing people in the stands enjoying the game with the players and with the fans back home. Right away, fans at home noticed everything teams and players were saying when play calling mid-game. In golf, there was banter and conversations between players that wouldn’t otherwise have been noticed.
Conti described the pandemic sports landscape as “creepy- really, really creepy.” Conti had to adjust his methodology for sports coverage, since he could not call the games in the stadium. Another major issue he faced calling remote games on radio was that there was no crowd noise for ambience to “fill in the gaps.” In Conti’s own words, “the silence was deafening.”
Leagues and teams quickly realized how much they needed fans back in seats, and while people still could not be admitted into the stadiums, they had to be more creative with their methods. This started the era of the cardboard cutouts, and people could pay to have pictures of them cut out to be placed in the stadium.
Eventually, cardboard cutouts and artificial fan noise were replaced with Zoom. Fans could Zoom in on games and appear on a giant screen behind the athletes, watching them play and providing genuine audio, but even that did not provide the same emotional human connection that is seen in real fans in their seats.
In a positive sense, fans saw sports in a way they never did before. Fans saw sports as a way of life that they depend on for more than just entertainment, but also a means to get out of one’s own head. Fans learned about what it means that they show up to games and get loud when their team makes a big play. Players realized how much it matters that they get to see people watching them play, marveling at what they can do.
Conti said optimistically, “We’re back [to where we were before the pandemic]. I don’t think anyone has really looked back since [sports teams have found solutions to prevent contracting COVID-19]. That’s not to say there won’t be another pandemic in the future, and we’ll have to re-evaluate. As far as COVID-19 is concerned, it certainly does feel like we’ve learned to live with it; and in learning to live with it, sports can continue.”
Four to five years later, there are individuals occasionally seen wearing a mask. COVID-19 is not gone, neither is the threat of sickness before, during or after the pandemic. The fear for our own health still is prevalent for some people, but people have adapted. We have vaccines that boost our immunity, and we have natural built-up immunity as well.
We no longer need to let fear influence our social activities, and for the sports fans who have returned to their stadium seats, you don’t have to tell them twice. Sports are back. Fans are back. We may not look the same as we did before, but we are back to bringing the fiery passion that fuels our love of sports.
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