Carmelo, get your backside out of my face. That’s all I could think to myself one recent November evening, while watching a New York Knicks-Portland Trail blazers game. I wasn’t sitting in a posh courtside seat at Madison Square Garden, with Anthony’s derriere obstructing my view—though I may as well have been. No, I was watching this game on a Samsung Gear VR virtual reality headset. The camera angle put me right at courtside, near the official scorer’s table—where Anthony was standing, waiting to check into the game at the next whistle. Which couldn’t come soon enough. For the first time, an American pro sports league is broadcasting a regularly-scheduled series of live games in virtual reality throughout a season. The NBA is showing one VR game per week, usually on Tuesday nights, in partnership with NextVR, a company that broadcasts live events in virtual reality.
To access the games, consumers need a Samsung VR headset, which costs $99.99, a compatible Samsung phone, and the NextVR app. (NextVR says its broadcasts will soon be available on other VR platforms like Daydream and Playstation). Fans also must subscribe to NBA League Pass, which costs $199—a pretty penny for one VR game a week, but the package allows you to watch nearly every NBA game on your television, computer or mobile device. NextVR games are subject to blackout restrictions: for example, if you live in the New Orleans market or the Bay Area, you won’t be able to watch the Dec. 13 Warriors-Pelicans matchup in VR.
The latest VR headsets are incredible technological feats, but so far there’s precious little content specifically made for the embryonic platform. Some companies, like NextVR, are hoping that digitally placing fans in the best seats in the house at a pro sports game will help sell headsets and software, and attract advertisers to boot. So watching pro sports in VR could be the next big thing.