6 ways to make crowd-less Cleveland Browns games more bearable

Due to the social distancing that’s currently in effect, Cleveland Browns games will most likely be played in empty stadiums.

Playing in empty stadiums this fall gives the NFL an excellent opportunity to experiment with evolving their broadcasts, so here we make a few suggestions to make Cleveland Browns games fun even without fans

There WILL be football! That’s great news, Cleveland Browns fans.

The NFL’s 32 team schedules have just been released, sending a clear signal to the football world that the 2020 NFL season is actually going to happen. Goodell be praised, it’s a miracle!

Just kidding, it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry, it was always gonna happen.

But given the worldwide pandemic and the social distancing required to “flatten the curve” of the oft-deadly COVID-19 virus, this pro football season, especially the broadcasts, will no doubt look a bit different. Especially when it comes to who’s there watching.

As in, probably no live crowds at the games.

My first reaction when I heard that crowd-less games might happen was, “Well, that sucks.”

And it does suck for all those players who thrive and excel athletically off the energy of 80,000 screaming fans, though at least they’ll still be working. It also kinda sucks for the loyal season ticket holders who already paid but won’t get to attend

But boy oh boy it REALLY sucks for all those workers at the stadiums and hotels and restaurants and stores and bars and nightclubs and for the Uber drivers and prostitutes and strippers who won’t make a dime from those absentee crowds.

And it kinda sucks for the rest of us fans who are going to have to watch these crowd-free games from home and deal with whatever effects that has on our favorite pastime.

But by Goodell, at least there WILL be football!

Crowd-less Cleveland Browns games. Wonder what THAT’s gonna be like?

Probably a lot like it’s been watching the Tonight Show with no live studio audience. Yeah, after a while you get used to it, but it’s still weird because something’s missing. (Johnny Carson?) No, live laughter and the other sounds of the crowd responding. And that silent vacuum is absolutely noticeable, even when the jokes are funny and delivered well.

So, given this 2020 reality that the Cleveland Browns and the other NFL teams currently face, why not choose to see the Lombardi Trophy as half full? Why not turn this less-than-perfect situation into a positive by trying some fun broadcasting changes that you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) normally do with all those fans there?

With that in mind, here are half a dozen suggestions for fun ways to spruce up the 2020 crowd-less Cleveland Browns games.

Let’s hope at least some of them stick.