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“Of course they can sell advertising,” Orr said,

“but there are many ways to get creative. What

if a ticket-sales guy went out to season-ticket

holders and you can upload a photo and we

can put your image in the stands? We’re trying

to come up with a bunch of cool ideas that

may work.”

Other companies also are tailoring products to

help with social distancing and crowd control.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the new home of the

Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, already has

cashless systems in place for merchandise and

concessions. Several professional teams are in

talks with motion analytics company iinside,

whose SafeDistance system uses lasers to map

spaces and measure crowd density. At KeyBank

Center in Buffalo, New York, a company called

WaitTime utilizes an app to tell Sabres fans how

long lines are at restrooms and concessions.

“We have a great opportunity to rewrite the

new normal for the return of sports,” WaitTime

founder Zack Klima said.

It all sounds a bit Orwellian — like Big Brother

is very much watching. And such systems do

dance a fine line between informative and

intrusive. But they also could help mitigate

the spread of a virus, and that could make the

difference between having Michigan Stadium

empty on a fall Saturday or having 100,000 fans

rooting on the Wolverines again.

Not everything will be as overt as barren

concourses and empty seats, either. Most

of the changes that colleges and teams are

implementing will go unnoticed by those who

settle in for the kickoff or first pitch.

Image: Butch Dill
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