La Liga could use artificial crowd noise and digital fans even supporters return

La Liga say trials with pre-recorded crowd noise and virtually-filled stands to help viewers forget they are watching games in empty stadiums have been so popular that they could even keep using them after supporters have been gradually allowed back into stadiums.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has indicated that he would like stadiums back with reduced capacity as soon as possible.

Asked if crowd noise and overlaid graphics of supporters could be used to augment the diminished noise levels and sparsely filled stands – at least until stadiums are full once more – La Liga head of communications, Joris Evers said: ‘I would say yes.

‘The idea is for this technology to be complementary to what is actually in the stadium.’.

‘It’s a big responsibility because millions of people watch La Liga around the world in more than 180 countries,’ added Evers. ‘We want real fans to be back in the stadiums as soon as possible but while they can’t be there, we wanted to make the viewing experience better by filling the empty space.