Fans' cheers from home to deliver buzz in empty NPB stadiums

Fans' cheers from home to deliver buzz in empty NPB stadiums
29/05/2020
With no fans currently allowed in the stadium, a major tech company has developed an app to allow fans to cheer remotely for their favourite NPB teams. The league targets 5,000 fans by 10 July and venues at half capacity by 1 August.

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) will open the 2020 season on Friday, 19 June. The games will initially be played behind closed doors but fans will have a chance to make some noise in the venues.

A major tech company has developed a new app that allows fans to cheer remotely for their teams. The remote cheerer will allow fans to send their cheers or boos through a pre-recorded shout or their own personal message. The voice of the fans will reverberate around the stadium in real-time, transmitted by giant loudspeakers.

NPB targets as many as 5,000 fans at games by 10 July and to fill venues at 50% of the capacity by 1 August.

A few years back, a Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club introduced robot fans.

Teams in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) recently used cardboard cutouts and robot fans to create a buzz in their fan-less stadiums.