well the first pitch of the major league
baseball season just a little over two
hours away
as players prepare for a season without
fans in a stanzoil
or at least without real people all
right i want to go to abby
hornacek who is going to fill us in on
this brave new world now listen i know
robots and androids are taking all of
our jobs but
they're going to be the fans they're
taking our spots yeah they're taking our
spots in the stands charles what is
going on
no i actually think that this is a great
idea
they are experimenting with virtual fans
and of course it's not ideal but i think
it's our best option right now
and here is why so they have been
talking about how they're going to pipe
in these crowd noises at the games which
my first reaction was
you know this is gonna sound like a
really bad sitcom when people are
laughing in the background and you know
there's no one actually in studio
but when you add in this augmented
reality
you're putting life behind those sounds
and charles i don't know about you but
when i watch a baseball game i'm not
looking
at the faces of the fans minus the times
where you get that viral video of maybe
a guy holding a baby and a beer and then
there's a foul ball and the ball lands
in the beer
then it matters but i think people will
get used to the fact that these are not
real people
and it looks so realistic they'll forget
about it all together
so but we're not at that stage yet
though where say there is a foul ball
that one of these android-like things
gets up and catches it i mean have they
gotten that events yet
or or will they just you know what's
going to happen
yeah you know listen i agree
so here's the thing about the players
and i think the reaction
with fans is that okay well this might
be a little weird to watch on tv
i honestly don't think that the players
care because
i actually watched a really interesting
interview this morning with pete alonso
and he was saying that look
these guys come up through the farm
system so they're not used to playing
until they reach the majors they're not
used to playing in front of these crowds
that you get at city field or yankee
stadium
so i really don't think they it matters
it matters to them they just want to
play ball and
if anything it'll hopefully return them
to the reason that they started playing
baseball in the first place
for the love of the game well
all right i hear you there but what
about the home field advantage that
energy that the home team gets
from the crowd and they're behind and
it's the bottom of the ninth and
there's something that you feel right i
mean no matter what sport it is you
feel it and it seems to put teams over
the top is that gonna be gone
i yes i do think an aspect of that will
be gone but with this
augmented reality they're talking about
that they can
switch the colors of the people in the
crowd
they can switch their jerseys or you
know the the colors of
catering to whatever team is having the
whole home field advantage
and get this charles they will make the
fans
leave if it's a blowout so
people are going to be watching that on
tv but the players aren't gonna be
feeling that you know
so they're just gonna have to get over
it i think take it back to the little
league days you know
yeah yeah uh what are we looking at now
who's the favorite uh has anything
changed with respect to
you know who's going to win this year
have the odds makers made any sort of
adjustments because of all this
yeah you know you do see the odds
changing a little bit but
um i think that it what's going to
really change it is seeing
opening day and how all of this plays
out and how it plays out for fans at
home who is watching i do think that a
lot of people are eager to get back
there um sports bettors are eager to get
back out there and start laying some
action on these games so i think we'll
see that shift
and then you have the universal
designated hitter which has been you
know kind of a change in only 60 games
so each game matters more
you're not looking at a normal baseball
season
other sports uh you know so we've got
racing we've got
baseball uh there's the nba everyone
under the
un under this dome that's going to be
another weird experience
but there were questions of whether or
not sports will continue it looks like
we're going to make it through right
i think we are charles and you know it's
good for fans it's good for
the players i think everyone's just
eager to see something and
you know sports have had a universal
effect on bringing people together so
hopefully that happens
in today's climate as well but you know
the nba they're working on their bubble
and baseball is different because
they'll be traveling and there is more
of a risk with getting on airplanes and
all of that but
i do think we'll slowly see sports
coming back
nfl season is actually talking about
maybe using this augmented reality with
their fans as well so
baseball's definitely laying the
groundwork when it comes to that stuff
all right well i want to see this
augmented reality crowd
in the seventh inning stretch i want to
hear him singing and take me out to the
ball game
abby thank you very much i actually
charles i heard a rumor that you're
actually going to be
singing the seventh inning stretch and
it's going to be an augmented reality of
you
so i'm looking forward to seeing that
i'm working on it
you got it see you might see me