Silverstone boss ‘up for’ filling stands with cardboard fans!

Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle says he is ready to consider the idea of using cardboard cutouts of fans for this summer’s British Grand Prix double-header.

The two-race event scheduled on August 2 and 9 will take place behind closed gates in order to conform with the UK’s safety and sanitary measures.

But what the races will lack in atmosphere, Pringle is willing to make up with a visual stratagem that will produce an impression of attendance in the stands.

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The ploy is being used by German football team Borussia Moenchengladbach which filled parts of its stadium with cardboard cutouts of fans ahead of the Bundesliga’s restart.

“We have looked at things and I’m certainly not short of people trying to sell me interesting novel ideas, particularly printing companies seeking to replicate the Bundesliga cardboard crowd thing, which actually is great and I’m up for,” Pringle told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We’re in the entertainment business, we want to retain a relationship with the fans. We want to keep them as involved as possible, and, of course, that’s a lot easier in the digital age.

“We’ll be doing an awful lot on our website and social channels and things like that.

“But if there is a way that practically we could involve people, be it a video wall or the cardboard crowd on the seats, absolutely we’ll look at it. We are exploring all of those things.”