Many Leeds United fans have been reacting to Phil Hay’s tweet in which he described the crowd noises being played through the broadcast of the Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich fixture at the weekend as ‘pretty decent’.
Those who watched the Bundesliga clash this weekend could hear artificial crowd noise, while it was recently announced that the Premier League would be adopting the same technology whilst offering viewers the option of tuning into matches with or without the crowd audio.
Here is how a sample of the Elland Road faithful have responded to Hay’s verdict on the technology.
100% agreed, vastly improved TV experience ???
— Richard Lang (@richardlang05) June 6, 2020
Thought about this before but didn’t know how possible it was. Definitely adds something to the game. Is there a possibility we will do this ?
— Robert Ryan ?? (@robchocs) June 6, 2020
I’m really sold on it. We watch the game not the crowd. The added atmosphere does a great job. looking forward to crowds being back tho.
— ??ghandi?? (@remember_ghandi) June 6, 2020
yip, they did a good job with it
— DavinBali (@DavinBali) June 7, 2020
Yeah hope #EFL are looking into this
— Rick Hartley (@RickHartley64) June 6, 2020
As per BBC Sport, the way it works is: “An ‘audio carpet’ for the basic noise is taken from the previous meeting and it is mixed with the real noise of the game. Reaction samples for scenarios such as penalties, fouls and decisions from VAR are created and ‘inserted’ by a watching producer.”
However, not all fans were as positive about the concept.
Said no one ever ?
— Briggsy?? (@JBLUFC23) June 6, 2020
You can definitely tell the stadium is empty when the goal was announced. Echoed for ages!
— Matt Van De Gevel (@MattAdamMusic) June 6, 2020
Whilst many believe the artificial crowd sounds enhance the viewing experience, others have expressed their dislike of the whole thing. It seems the British broadcasters have everybody covered by providing their viewers with a choice, although it is not known if the technology will be used in the upcoming televised Championship fixtures as well as the Premier League ones.
In any case, it seems such technology would be a hit in the Championship, at least among some fans, as these Leeds supporters have suggested off the back of the recent announcement that the second tier will be back in action later this month.