Vinyl Sheets Fill Grandstands with Virtual Sports Fans

TRIESTE, Italy, Nov. 4, 2010 — Television viewers of the Triestina professional soccer team have witnessed impressive crowds in home games this fall.  But a closer look will reveal the crowd does not cheer, do the wave, or even move.  

That’s because the fans occupying the 10,000-seat stands that face the television cameras were images of past Trieste fans printed on giant sheets of vinyl and fastened over the empty seats. 

Blocking off segments of the stadium saves money by reducing staff required to attend to the stands, but empty stands are a depressing sight, and having tried numerous methods to attract more fans, team owners came up with a virtual vinyl crowd to supplement the flesh and blood fans.  

Trieste, bordered by the Adriatic Sea, Slovenia, and a narrow strip of land connecting it to the rest of Italy, has an aging population, with no suburbs to draw sports fans from.  All of Triestina’s home games are broadcast live, which also reduces crowd size.  The stadium with a capacity of more than 32,000 generally attracts only 5,500 to 7,000 fans.

When various promotions proved unsuccessful, Triestina management decided to create and install the vinyl audience.  They hope the two-dimensional image of fan-filled stands will attract more three-dimensional fans, and additional advertising revenue, since sections of the vinyl include advertising space seen by television audiences.

Newspaper columnists in this country suggested this method of filling seats could work in the United States, specifically at sparsely attended Florida-based baseball parks and football stadiums.

The Vinyl Institute represents the leading manufacturers involved in the production of PVC/vinyl resin in the United States, and promotes the value of PVC/vinyl products to society. 

For more information on The Vinyl Institute, contact:
Jeffrey B. Palmer
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Vinyl Institute
571-970-3327
jpalmer@vinylinfo.org

Also go to:  www.vinylindesign.com, www.vinylinfo.org, and www.achievegreen.net.