Your comment reminds me of a story about the New York Jets back when the American Football League was just getting started ... maybe early 60’s.
The league reported the attendance at one game as 45,000. One sports reporter said “Sure, that’s true if 30,000 fans came disguised as empty seats!”
Cannot remember the person who said it...but another line was..”there were so few people in the stands it was easier to introduce the fans to the players”...