A couple of months back, the very concept of live sports returning, even with no live audience, seemed like a pipe dream. Now, we have all of the major sports back and playing, and we even had the first day ever where all four of the top sports in the United States played (football, baseball, basketball and hockey). Back when the world of sports was just beginning to come back from their abrupt stop in March, I read an incredible article in the New York Times called, “Sports Have Been on Pause. It’s Time for a Reboot.” The article details ways that the rules and other aspects of sports should change in order to be more up with the times. Now that sports have returned, I looked back on the article to see what I think should actually be implemented.
The article focuses on sports as a whole, and individually, looking at how to change the games in general. One of the suggestions is to expand the field size in multiple sports. This would allow for more creativity and action. Many of the suggestions made by the article focus on giving the players more options for creativity. The level of athleticism in professional sports continues to climb, and the rules need to change with that. Things like instigating a four-pointer in basketball or giving only one serve in tennis would make the game more interesting for not only the fans, but the players too.
One of the most interesting concepts in the article is ways to make sports more exciting to the fans, both on the television and in-person. Now that there is such a lack of energy in stadiums empty of fans, I think it’s the perfect time to implement some of these changes. A lot of these proposals were focused on the sport of baseball. I couldn’t agree more that baseball needs a reboot because it lacks a certain flair that one finds in football and basketball, especially at the professional level. Things like making the bases slightly bigger to make the game move faster or encouraging bat flips after home runs would make a big difference in viewer enjoyment of the game. This is even more important now that people can’t be in the exciting atmosphere of the stadium.
The article also presents ideas for how to use new technology to update how games are watched on television. One suggestion was to attach microphones to players, allowing fans to listen to live commentary during games. This would give the viewer a more interactive experience and showcase even more of the on-field action. There would have to be things like a rating on games in case of cursing, but it would make it even more fun to watch. These changes to the way the game is watched would help to build the new atmosphere that sports most adopt due to the lack of fans at actual games.
The world of sports has gone through a massive change, but is nothing if not adaptable. It has always changed to keep up with the times, and now is no different. The future of sports looks bright still because people look to sports for joy and comfort, and that will never change.
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