Stadium Effects

I don’t know about you, but I love the natural sights and sounds of a baseball game, or any sporting event, whether I’m watching a game in person at Fenway or on television, or listening to the radio broadcast. But over the past few seasons, I haven’t been able to hear those sounds very well.

No, I’m not losing my hearing. Well, not too much anyway, and certainly not enough that I can’t hear the sounds of the game. I’m focusing on baseball in particular here because I just don’t go to football or hockey games anymore. But what I hear while watching these sports on television or listening to them on radio is the constant loud thrum of “stadium effects” as they are called, which is simply a euphemism for loud music and sound effects that kick in with every stoppage in play, and are especially annoying (I’m told) to the paying customers in the stadium or arena where the game is being played. While television watchers are watching commercials, fans at the live venue are bombarded by music and other sounds so loud that they render normal conversation next to impossible.

I would love to know from someone in the “stadium effects” business what this constant aural assault is intended to accomplish, and more important, what fans think about it. I’m sure part of it is generational, and it does seem to maintain the normal state of hyperactivity in the little kids I see dancing and moving around in their seats, compensating for the temporary unavailability of their electronic devices.

Yeah, I know. Don’t say it. I’ll say it for you: