NHL Has No Fans In The Stands, Crowd Noise In Games

I was watching the Stanley Cup playoff highlights and there was a Jedi mind trick going on and I had to do a double-take.

The two guys are making the call of the highlight and the crowd is going wild to the play. Then I see a wide shot showing the whole arena. There is no one in the stands, but the crowd is going wild in the highlights. Pittsburgh Hockey Now is reporting that EA Sports is piping in the crowd noise.  That is the company that makes sports games for gaming systems. Like the hockey game my son and I play.

Chad Finn of Boston.com brings up a good point. We need the fake noise. It makes the game have a little excitement. He brought up the alternative. Total silence after a goal or a great save by a goalie. So, the question I have: is the noise in the arena with the game or only on the broadcast?

Fansided brought up a good point. How long before the NHL adds fake people in the stands? They could do it by superimposing people in the stands, they could have CGI people, they could use zoom accounts of people and they could use the NHL background. They talked about having people send their jpg pictures into the NHL and they could be put into a game.

This may be our reality for other sports. The NFL says they are going to pipe in some type of fake crowd noise and Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports say Cowboys (former Packers) Coach Mike McCarthy is not a fan and opposes having a fake crowd.

What do you think? I enjoy seeing the game with some action instead of a podcast sounding broadcast.