10 Jun, 2020 @ 18:34
1 min read

Spain’s La Liga turns to virtual football fans and FIFA 20 video game to recreate atmosphere in empty stands

Fifa_20

SPAIN’S La Liga has turned to the world of video games to liven up its matches when the season restarts behind closed doors on June 11.

Worried that TV audiences will find the games lack atmosphere and seem flat as stands remain empty.

So they have hatched a plan to replace real people with ‘virtual fans’ and have cut a deal to use sound effects provided by the makers of the FIFA video game franchise.

Fifa_20
ATMOSPHERE: La Liga has turned to video game maker EA for crowd noises.

Norwegian company Vizrt will provide visuals of ‘fans’ wearing team colours to populate the stands.

In true football manner, pauses in the action will allow broadcasters to replace the images with a canvas for messaging – providing an opportunity for extra advertising.

TV viewers will be able to choose whether or not they see the fake fans and hear the audio.

La Liga President, Javier Tebas, said: “We have made these broadcasting changes so fans can enjoy La Liga.

“We work with global partners to offer a great viewer experience. We are in an exceptional situation, but for us it has been important to be able to adapt and offer a compelling, cutting-edge broadcast to our fans.”

The La Liga restart kicks off with the derby between Sevilla and Real Betis.

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

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