6 ways to make crowd-less Cleveland Browns games more bearable
By Mike Lukas
Crowdless Cleveland Browns games suggestion no. 3) Pump in crowd noise for big plays
Okay, I’ll admit this one may or may not be a good idea, but it would be worth a try. Before and after any big play, turn up some crowd noise on the house speakers and get those players psyched. Of course, after watching Bill Maher desperately add a laugh track during his HBO show instead of his normal live audience, long moments of silence might be far less painful.
Maybe instead of crowd noise, try pumping in music. Ever play Madden 2020? Throw in some hip-hop and country-funk blasts after Myles Garrett sacks a QB and that could enhance the excitement. “Put your hands where my eyes can see!!!” Busta Myles!
At the very least, pump in a laugh track every time the refs miss a call. Make a note, call Maher.
Crowdless Cleveland Browns games suggestion no. 4) Do NOT light up the stands during the game
Ever been in an empty stadium? Re-watch one of Baker Mayfield’s Progressive ads or any Bengals home game and you’ll see that staring at that many vacant seats is just sad. Thousands upon thousands of empty chairs, each a reminder of what isn’t there.
The Browns are used to playing in front of and for their amazing fans, so who knows how having to look up at row upon row of empty seats might affect them. So darken the stands and light up the field and give the teams a fair chance to get lost in the game.
They could fill the place with masked cardboard cutout fans like they did for Taiwanese Baseball, but did you see how spooky those pics looked? Or else use computers and 3D lasers to implant a digital crowd, but that might actually be more depressing to play football in front of than empty seats. Unless they’re all holding digital puppies.