Well, we made it.
Over the next 10 days, we’ll go from zero games from the major sports in North America over the last four months to almost all of them. Major League Baseball starts today, the NBA next week, the NHL on Aug. 1 and NFL training camps will be opening their doors as well.
Of course it’ll be different. No fans will be allowed in until — potentially — NFL teams will be allowed to have 20 per cent or so capacity in the fall.
The NBA showcased some interesting technology in its pre-season games by having a “fan experience” with monster screens with fan shots and crowd noise.
I’m interested, though, on what sports fans’ reactions will be. Early on, we really missed it, but as the weeks continued, we got used to not having a game to watch and used that time to find new hobbies and routines.
Will fans come scrambling back in the middle of summer? The leagues and television companies hope so.
I’m not so sure the numbers will be as large as they expect.