With fixtures set to take place behind closed doors when the Premier League returns, clubs have reportedly held talks over forward-thinking plans to help deal with the lack of atmosphere in stadiums when matches are played.<\/p>\n
With fans not allowed to attend fixtures for the foreseeable future due to the safety issues with regards to the pandemic the one grave concern for both clubs and the league itself is how the lack of supporters and noise inside the stadiums is further scaled down when translated to television could negatively impact the atmosphere and excitement generated that would put fans off.<\/p>\n
Matches behind closed doors lack ambience and tend not to be the greatest spectacle ideal for viewing through a TV screen, but clubs are contemplating a bold idea to combat the issue.<\/p>\n
The Mail reports that Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal have all held discussions with German technology company hack-CARE, whose app enables fans to contribute to crowd noise.<\/p>\n
The myapplause app offers users four choices of interaction – cheer, clap, sing, and whistle which hence enables clubs to set up the app at their end inside their stadiums to then play the noise generated by fans operating the app, with the flexibility to modify the volumes of both home and away support.<\/p>\n
In addition, clubs can even play the noise in different areas of the grounds, with the potential to simulate home and away ends, if matches were to be kept out of neutral venues.<\/p>\n
It takes just 0.1 seconds for the noise to transmit from the user’s app in their own homes to the stadiums, making it possible to celebrate a goal almost in real time.<\/p>\n
The faster and more often a fan clicks on each option also produces a louder sound, and up to 1million fans can use the app at any one time.<\/p>\n
Two Bundesliga clubs have already trialled the technology with a view to using it at their own matches when football action eventually returns to Germany.<\/p>\n
Premier League clubs would not be charged to use the app, while fans would have to pay just a one-off cost of \u00a31 for its initial download.<\/p>\n
There could also be a share of revenue from hack-CARE, who are determined to boost their profile by getting the rest of the Premier League on board.<\/p>\n
The company can offer a package to the whole division, or create individual agreements with interested clubs.<\/p>\n
Sky Sports have already suggested they plan to offer viewers the option of having background crowd noise, but the myapplause app could provide fans a way to still be involved in the match through virtual means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"