The person in charge of what you hear when you watch a football broadcast is called an audio mixer. It’s an apt title, since the sounds from the stadium that come into people’s living rooms are like the ingredients of a recipe: They’re collected in raw form from the field, the sidelines, and the stands; measured out; and mixed together. The final product delivered to viewers represents what they’d hear if they were at the game themselves, but it’s not an exact replica.

A good audio mixer can make viewers feel like they’re close to the action by letting them clearly hear the quarterback’s clap that breaks the huddle or audible calls at the line of scrimmage, even though no one in the stands can actually hear these things. Play calls, a hit, or a player’s cry that might be wince-inducing on a quiet practice field blend into the game-day atmosphere. The sounds you hear during a television broadcast are really a highly produced and edited version of the game, one that reflects the priorities of the league, satisfies the TV networks that pay billions of dollars for the broadcast rights, and provides fans with a pleasant viewing experience for one of the most popular entertainment products in the world.

One of those key ingredients is the fans in attendance. The noise made by a packed house changes how teams operate on the field and how viewers react to the action. It helps offenses protect their play calls from defenses and creates moments of heightened activity and tension that lets broadcasters tell the story of the game. That story will be dramatically different in 2020, at least at the start of the season. Twenty-six teams plan to play their first games of the season without fans, a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. By now, fans have become accustomed to the absence of crowd noise; the NBA has, somewhat successfully, created a virtual atmosphere for its games, with images of fans’ floating heads visible on the broadcasts. The NFL is hopeful that, eventually, fans of all teams will be able to be in the stadiums in a limited capacity, but the league has prepared for an augmented viewing experience that will be unlike any other in its history.

[Read Nora Princiotti's piece detailing how the absence of fans from the NFL season will impact the games and the television-viewing experience.]