For sports fans, the sounds of basketball are all over the airwaves in early spring. Rim-rattling dunks, sneaker squeaks, and the ball’s rhythmic bouncing on the court are all part of what makes the game so engaging. In a typical arena environment, you can hear the action on the court directly from your seat. But what happens to the sound when the game is played in a stadium with up to 75,000 screaming fans?

At the 2025 Men’s Division 1 tournament semifinals and championship in San Antonio—and every year since 2009—the team at Avant Acoustics has helped answer that question. Over the years, we have refined our approach to meet the demands of each venue and ensure that everyone in the stadium has a chance to hear the games clearly, no matter how far they (and their ears) are from the court.

To tackle this challenge, our first task is to work with the venue audio integration team to design a loudspeaker distribution scheme that serves all areas in an even (and timely) manner. As with any high-performance system, a cohesive, full-range frequency response is essential. While time alignment must be maintained, unnecessary delay/latency is minimized to preserve synchronicity between what fans see and what they hear (subject to the laws of physics). Once installation is complete, we conduct final system testing and tuning to ensure championship-caliber performance.

Next, we capture the sounds of the game using specialized microphones placed around and beneath the court. The raw audio is processed into a natural-sounding mix highlighting the on-court action. While similar to the game sounds heard on TV, our in-stadium mix is adjusted and equalized to suit the stadium environment and avoid feedback or other audible anomalies. During the games, we monitor the audio from a variety of sections at each level to verify uniform coverage and consistency. Our goal is to preserve the game’s intimacy and intensity without drawing attention to the sound system itself.

This year’s tournament finale delivered some close games and high drama on the court. Thanks to Avant Acoustics, every exhilarating swish and exasperating clank was part of the fan experience from tip-off to the final buzzer. As for the confetti celebration? That moment spoke for itself—no amplification required.

Photos taken by David Wetzel