I typically have season tickets for the BYU basketball season and it was difficult to be as excited and as invested without having the opportunity to be there at any games. The reason they create the in-game atmosphere at big arenas is because there’s an excitement that is hard to capture by watching it at home. And only watching the games on TV, with few to no fans in the background, felt hollow and not real, definitely diminishing my level of engagement, even though I’ll always be a loyal BYU fan. This was only magnified when it was other teams playing where I had no dog in the fight.
I’m fully aware that it’s all psychological, but I doubt I’m the only one who felt this way across the country.