March Madness App Offers Virtual Courtside Seats

Fans of college basketball will be able to experience March Madness in virtual reality, starting with tonight’s Sweet 16 semifinal games in San Jose.

The NCAA is making “virtual courtside seats” available for the NCAA Final Four National Semifinals on April 1 and National Championship on April 3 as well as tonight’s Sweet 16 and tomorrow night’s Elite 8 rounds from the West Region.

Last year’s Final Four and Championship games were broadcast in virtual reality (VR) but this is the first time any Sweet 16 or Elite games have been available in VR. Oculus has improved the app for this year’s presentation with a new bracket view that lets fans track tournament progress as the competition unfolds.

To experience VR coverage you need to download the free NCAA March Madness Live VR app from the Oculus store. The app supports the Gear VR platform and compatible mobile phones.

Two ticket options are available:

• Gold – For $2.99 per game or $7.99 for all six games fans will be able to watch the games from a courtside perspective via multiple cameras with dedicated VR commentary from Spero Dedes with Steve Smith and Lisa Byington.

• Silver – For $1.99 per game, fans can experience VR through a single courtside camera presentation (180-degree live stream) with commentary from the CBS broadcast featuring Jim Nantz with Grant Hill, Bill Raftery, and Tracy Wolfson.

Each ticket provides access to the full tournament bracket with enhanced video highlights from each game, virtual stats, scoreboards, and shot charts. The app will also offer 360-degree highlights from games produced with Intel True VR on the NCAA March Madness Facebook page.

The March Madness VR coverage is a partnership between the NCAA, Turner Sports, CBS Sports, and Intel.

See the remaining March Madness schedule here.

COMMENTS
pw's picture

I wonder if the NFL can make a VR experience of a live game.. The fans would go nuts for this..

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