When the clock struck midnight Sunday, so began what the Carolina RailHawks are billing as “Soccer Month.”

The team plays nine games, five of them at SAS Soccer Park, in July, and they’re all of considerable importance as the USL First Division season enters its midway point and the U.S. Open Cup goes to the third round.

I have an idea for a “Soccer Month” promotion. Let’s call it Turn Back the Clock Night.

This might sound crazy, blasphemous even, but here’s the idea: Fans will come to the park, find their seats, watch the game, cheer when they feel compelled to and leave when it’s over.

This night will feature no in-game promotions, no in-game music, no in-game commercials. There will be no hats, T-shirts or discount coupons to local restaurants and shopping centers given away.

The P.A. system will be used only to announce goals, cards and stoppage time. At no time can anyone use the microphone to announce what’s happening in the game or to tell the crowd it’s time to cheer.

You see, we’re turning the clock back to a time when people went to a game strictly to watch the game and cheer for their team — not to be entertained by all the bells and whistles that have nothing to do with the action on the field.

This is not an assault on the RailHawks organization. This is a trend across sports in this country, but someone needs to take a stand. Why not start at the smaller level and see if we can’t spark a change?

At some point in the last 25 years, going to a game stopped being enough. That’s because, in part, team owners jacked ticket prices to compensate for escalating player salaries.

In order to keep people coming back, especially families, teams decided people needed to be entertained from the minute they arrived at the park until they minute the left. This surely contributed to the death of the American attention span. To fill the gaps created by pauses of the game, every team invented a mascot, started using T-shirt cannons, Jumbotrons imploring the crowd to get behind the home team, Jock Jams blasting through the sound system and dance squads.

It’s an entertainment onslaught.

Since it’s been going on so long, every franchise thinks that’s the way to do it. And now it’s overdone and annoying to no end. The sad thing is, though, someone must find these things entertaining. While many owners are tragically out of touch with their fan base, they are still smart business people who made their money by making wise decisions. But I have to imagine more people than not find all the peripheral stuff pointless.

It’s gotten to the point where the game is almost secondary. Kids are more enthralled by the rock climbing wall than the majesty of a bicycle kick or a well timed volley.

And because people have so many options at the stadium, the environment is so stale. Clubs’ production teams try to manufacture an excited crowd, but it never works. Now, fans typically cheer louder during a giveaway in the stands than they do for a give-and-go on the field.

No one’s realized that you can’t force it.

A crowd surge is infectious, and it has to crest naturally. That’s what makes it so exhilarating. If the fans aren’t into it, no amount of crappy music or pleas through the P.A. is going to make it so. If a crowd is going to genuinely give its team a spark, then the team has to give them something to get them going. It’s a 50-50 give-and-take.

Need evidence?

Earlier this spring, the crowd at Golden State was credited with helping the Warriors beat the Mavericks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The fans weren’t spurned on by what was happening around the arena. They were inspired by what was happening on the court. The players fed off that energy and ran Dallas out of playoffs.

I know nothing about a lot of things, and marketing is one of them.

But the RailHawks should at least consider my plea. I’m willing to bet the fans and players would thrive on such a night.