Add Your Voice to Sports Broadcasts Without Fans

Right now, every effort is being made to get live sports back - even if it's without any fans in the stands.

Can you imagine watching the Denver Broncos on TV pummel the Oakland Raiders at Empower Field at Mile High - but without any cheers or boos. You just can't have a Broncos-Raiders matchup without plenty of boos. But, that is possibly what the scenario will be when the NFL starts its season this fall. Talk about weird.

There's been talk that the networks might try to use "canned" crowd noise to help give the fans at home a better viewing experience. However, it almost seems that if you know it's fake, it's just going to make the experience even more strange.

Well, it's possible that you could watch that Broncos game from your living room with real crowd noise.

ESPN is teaming up with Hear Me Cheer to get fans' at-home reactions into the broadcast. You do a recording of yourself in front of your television....whether it's cheers or boos. The website takes the audio an adds an acoustic effect which makes it sound like you're at the stadium. The audio is sent on to ESPN which can then plug in the sounds of thousands of fans cheering or jeering - depending on the situation.

I can't say that I fully understand how it works, but the concept is intriguing and people are doing it. Recently, according to The Hustle, as many as 15,000 people were participating. They've tried it on boxing, and it's possible in the coming weeks we will have baseball, hockey, and the NBA on television with prerecorded sounds from actual fans.

Here's the deal. I plan to watch football this fall regardless of fans in the stands or living room cheers. But, I have to believe my enjoyment level will be higher if there is some actual fan noise in the broadcast. The fact that my voice can be part of the crowd is even better.