疫情时期的别样球赛：纸板人当观众

新冠肺炎疫情已经让世界各地的体育赛事中断了好几个月，近期当各大比赛回归时，你在座位上看到的将不是粉丝，而是代表粉丝的纸板人。

My Fan Seats is working with college and professional sports programs to create cardboard cutout programs. Photo: Lara Smedley

When Major League Baseball kicks off its abridged season this month, its fan base is going to look dramatically different and they won’t be nearly as loud.

美国职业棒球大联盟复赛于本月开幕时，现场的粉丝团看起来将会大不一样，而且会安静得多。

That’s because teams like the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and a handful of others will be filling their stands with cardboard cutouts of fans. The trend, which we first saw in European soccer leagues, has now made its way to the United States.

这是因为奥克兰运动家队、旧金山巨人队和其他几支棒球队将会在观众席位上放上粉丝们的纸板人。这一潮流首见于欧洲足球联赛，如今也传到了美国。

When MLB returns after a lost spring due to coronavirus, fans will not be permitted in the stands. That has forced teams to look for creative solutions to recoup in-stadium revenue and create fan engagement.

因为疫情而损失了春季球赛的美国职业棒球大联盟归来后，现场看台不允许粉丝进入。这迫使棒球队寻找创意方式来找补球场收入、增加粉丝参与度。

recoup[rɪˈkuːp]: vt. 收回；恢复

The A’s announced the start of the “Coliseum Cutouts” program on Monday, which allows fans to put their image on an 18 x 30 cardboard cutout and for the chance to see their cutout appear on television. In 24 hours, the A’s said they have already sold 1,000 “season tickets” for the cardboard cutouts.

奥克兰运动家队本周一 "Response has been extremely strong,” Oakland A’s president Dave Kaval told CNBC in an interview. “People are especially interested in the foul ball dunk, where if your cutout gets hit, we send you the authenticated ball to your house.”

奥克兰运动家队的主席戴夫·卡瓦尔在CNBC的一次访谈中说：“我们收到了非常热情的反馈。人们对界外球尤其感兴趣，如果你的纸板人被球砸到，我们将把原球寄到你家。”

The price of cutouts varies by team, but in Oakland, prices start at $49 and go up to $129, depending on location in the stands.

每个球队给纸板人的定价都不同，但在奥克兰运动家队，纸板人价格从49美元 The fine print says that commercial advertisements, slogans, websites and social media handles will not be permitted on the cutouts. Offensive or negative references and names of MLB players are also prohibited.

细则中写道，商业广告、标语、网站和社交媒体入口不允许出现在纸板人上，和职业棒球大联盟球员有关的攻击性或负面信息以及球员名字也禁止出现在上面。

The A’s said the cutouts will remain in the ballpark for the 2020 regular season and fans will have the option to take home their cutout as a souvenir when the season ends. The A’s do not guarantee the condition of cutouts from weather and other elements.

奥克兰运动家队称，纸板人将会在2020常规赛季中一直保留在棒球场中，粉丝可以选择在赛季结束时将自己的纸板人带回家留念。奥克兰运动家队不保证纸板人不会因为天气和其他因素而受损。

Kaval said that there’s also a visual component to having cardboard fans at the ballpark.

卡瓦尔称，棒球场中有纸板人粉丝的话，画面效果会更好。

"It has a better feel for the broadcast experience versus seeing empty stands, so I think you will see more and more teams adopt something like this, not only for the fan engagement but for the broadcast experience,” he said.

他说：“播出时看见纸板人比看见空座位感觉更好，所以我认为你会看见越来越多球队采用纸板人的做法，不只是为了增加粉丝参与度，也是为了提升播出效果。”

The Oakland A’s are letting their fans be at their ballparks virtually with its Coliseum Cutouts program. Source: Oakland A’s.

The San Francisco Giants are running a similar cardboard cutout program for season ticket holders, which they plan to open to the public beginning on Monday. The Giants plan to put the images of the season ticket holders in their actual seat locations.

旧金山巨人队也向季票持有者推出了类似的纸板人项目，他们计划从周一开始向公众开放。巨人队计划将季票持有者的纸板人放在他们的实际座位上。

The Oakland Athletics said their Coliseum Cutout program is not designed to make money for the organization, but to raise money for local charities that have been impacted by Covid-19.

奥克兰运动家队称，他们的“球场纸板人”项目不是为了给球队赚钱，而是为了给受新冠疫情冲击的当地慈善机构筹款。

The San Francisco Giants said it’s less about the money and more of a fun way to engage with its fans.

旧金山巨人队称，与其说是为了赚钱，不如说是一种和粉丝互动的有趣方式。

The Giants are charging $99 for their program and are providing the cutouts to season ticket holders that have agreed to roll their money to next season.

巨人队的这一项目收费99美元，将向那些下一季愿意继续购票的季票持有者提供纸板人。

Yet in Germany, Bundesliga’s Borussia Mönchengladbach sold 23,000 cutouts, according to Be At the Game, the company behind the program. With an average price of $26, that’s about $600,000 in revenue.

然而在德国，据运营纸板人项目的公司Be At the Game介绍，德国足球甲级联赛的普鲁士明兴格拉德巴赫队卖出了2.3万个纸板人。每个纸板人的均价是26美元，总收入约60万美元。

Tom Hickson, co-founder of Be At the Game, said his company has been in discussions with the NBA, NHL and MLS teams about utilizing this new type of fan.

Be At the Game公司的联合创始人汤姆·西克森表示，他们的公司一直在和美国男子篮球职业联赛、北美职业冰球联赛和美国职业足球大联盟的球队就使用这种新型“粉丝”进行洽谈。

"As sports fans, we’re all obviously aggrieved about the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has prevented fans from entering into sports stadiums and arenas across the world,” Hickson said. “So it’s a way in which fans can be re-engaged.”

“作为体育迷，我们显然都对于新冠疫情阻止粉丝进入世界各地的体育场馆的事实感到悲愤，”西克森说，“所以这是让粉丝重新参与进来的一个方式。”