It is pretty clear that during the Coronavirus pandemic, many live sports broadcasts and shows have not been able to incorporate what has been their biggest variable: this variable is live audiences. While many broadcasts have done their best to make their presentation as “normal” as possible due to the current circumstances, none have done a better job than World Wrestling Entertainment, who recently introduced a new interactive virtual crowd.

During WWE’s most recent broadcasts, where they stream from the WWE Thunderdome, fans can go online and pay to be added to some sort of live stream, where they then are presented among thousands of other fans in little boxes on a gigantic LED board, creating the illusion of a live crowd. While the fans are unable to have any kind of microphone or sound, sound effects such as cheers, boos and screams of excitement are added whenever needed to create yet another illusion.

While many broadcasts and shows have done creative and cool things to create some type of normality, in my opinion, nobody has done so better than WWE. It is probably just a matter of time before other sports programs take after the WWE and incorporate elements seen during their shows.