Taylor Lewan can already envision how strange it’s going to be.
“Jogging out there when we announce the offense and the announcer says, ‘77, Taylor Lewan,’ and I’m waving to nobody, it’s going to be different,” the Titans left tackle said Friday.
The Titans already knew they would be playing in front of an empty stadium for their home opener against the Jaguars on Sept. 20; Nashville mayor John Cooper on Aug. 18 announced there would be no fans at Nissan Stadium through at least September. Cooper added: "We may ease these restrictions based on improved COVID-19 numbers and the experiences of other NFL and MLS cities.”
Then, on Friday, the Broncos announced there would be no fans in attendance at Empower Field for their season opener against the Titans on Sept. 14. The NFL is allowing teams to use local guidelines to make decisions on their own about fan attendance. And with many teams deciding not to host fans at their stadiums, the NFL is considering a league-wide policy that would enable artificial crowd noise, according to ESPN.
On Friday afternoon, the Titans got a brief taste of what that would sound like.
There weren’t any fans in the stands as the Titans practiced at Nissan Stadium for the first time this training camp, but artificial crowd noise was pumped in over the loudspeakers. A dull murmur filled the venue as the team went through team drills.
“As far as … the crowd noise, I thought was OK,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “I don’t know what the levels are. Whatever it's going to be, that's what we'll play with.”
During the Titans practice Friday, the volume of the artificial crowd noise remained consistent throughout the team period. It was perhaps most noticeable when the team period ended and the artificial crowd noise was halted, creating an eerie silence in the stadium.
Through the first seven weeks of the season, the Titans have only two road games: Week 1 at Denver, and Week 3 at Minnesota. The Vikings have yet to announce a specific plan for attendance but acknowledged that games will be played at "a significantly reduced capacity and include a different in-stadium experience,” according to ESPN.
Some teams, like the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Football Team, have already announced they will play the entire season without fans. Other teams have announced they will allow a limited number of fans in the stands to start the season, like the Kansas City Chiefs, who will open Arrowhead Stadium at 22% capacity.
Vrabel said he didn’t think teams would have a competitive advantage if their venue was permitted to host fans.
“I'm not sure how loud 15,000 could be,” he said, “but I guess maybe if there are some sold out, that could be. I haven't really thought in that direction yet.”
But what if there are no fans? Will players be able to feed off of artificial crowd noise the way they do the real thing?
“I think it varies from player to player,” Lewan said. “There is a level of excitement when you have a bunch of fans going off for sure. Energy and excitement are two things that kind of go hand-in-hand. However when you go and play football it takes a few snaps, and when guys get tired, the fans kind of go away and you’re playing a football game. It’s a one-on-one matchup. Things kind of space out when you get into a flow state and play those games.”
Reach Erik Bacharach at ebacharach@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ErikBacharach.
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Titans, bracing for no fans in stadium, get a feel for artificial crowd noise - Tennessean
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