Wow, have you ever seen an NFL stadium on a Sunday? I mean, we’ve all seen them on TV, but to experience them in real life is something else. As a lifelong football fan, I’ve been to many of the NFL stadiums, including Giants stadium, and it’s always a heartwarming experience for me.
But now, with the coronavirus pandemic, the idea of an empty NFL stadium hits hard. It’s like, I know it’s time for all of us to be safe, but there’s something so peaceful and sorrowful about a silent NFL stadium in the middle of a hot summer afternoon. It’s like an ode to a simpler time when people still felt safe going to stadiums and the games were still the center of our world.
It gets weird when you’re in the stadium, and you’re looking out to the empty seats. Where are the cheering fans? Where are the smiling faces? Where is the energy that usually fills these stadiums?
It’s weird to see players walk onto the field without any fans doing the traditional chants, and I smiled when I saw the Philadelphia Eagles live on the field, but their cheers were not there. It was eerie, to say the least.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. I’ve seen some cool ways teams have tried to fill the empty venues, like the field of virtual fans projected onto the stadium walls. That was really cool. And I’m sure once the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, the stadiums will be as alive and loud as ever.
But for now, we’re stuck with the strange feeling of visiting a silent NFL stadium. It feels like a dream; a darkened fairytale. You walk in, and you just know that any second, the energy that these stadiums usually embody is gonna hit you like a ton of bricks- but it never comes.
And while it may seem depressing to think about visiting an empty NFL stadium, there are still some positives. Like I said before, safety is paramount, and it’s good to know that stadiums are taking precautions to protect their fans. And it’s also nice to be able to experience a stadium in a new, quieter way. Sure, I miss the roaring cheers of a packed stadium, but there’s something special about walking around in a silent NFL stadium.
That being said, I think the new, empty NFL stadiums might just become the norm for a while. With the unpredictability of the pandemic, we just don’t know when we’ll be able to go back to the stadiums like we used to.
I feel like these empty stadiums are symbolic of humanity right now. We’re all just waiting for something to happen, but we don’t know what, so we just wait. We wait and we hope that one day we’ll be back at the stadiums in full force, cheering with the same excitement as before. Until then, we just have to be hopeful.
I’ve noticed a massive shift in the stadium culture since the pandemic. Before, attending an NFL game was like the ultimate act of fandom and community, but now, one stadium is as empty as the next. It definitely does a number on the spirit of the game and all that it stands for.
Now, instead of high energy, people get together through Zoom or FaceTime to watch the games. Teams have even been playing recorded fan noise to give the empty stadiums a sense of energy, but nothing beats being in the stadium with thousands of other fans.
The new reality of the NFL stadiums is something that will take some getting used to, but it’s also something we can accept if it means people staying safe.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that we still get to experience the joy of the game- just in a different way. It might not be the same, but it’s still exciting and inspiring. The empty stadiums might make us feel a little empty too, but deep down we know that it’s all for the greater good.
So, that’s how empty the NFL stadiums are- they’re emptier than we have ever seen before, but they’re also full of possibilities. It’s short-term sacrifice for the long-term gain. That’s the nature of the game.