How to watch Bundesliga's season-opener in Virtual Reality
Read about the latest sports tech news, innovations, ideas and products that impact players, fans and the sports industry at SportTechie.com.
NextVR, a leading Virtual Reality company, has worked with Fox Sports to broadcast the Daytona 500 and with MLB Advanced Media to air the Home Run Derby in VR. Next up is Bundesliga’s season-opening match of Bayern Munich vs. Werder Bremen from Allianz Arena live in Munich on Friday at 2:20 p.m. ET.
Subscribe to the
SportTechie Newsletter
- Future for female NFL play-by-play announcers?
- What to look for in Nike's updated RunClub App
- What Rio showed about the future of Olympics broadcasting
This will be the first time the Bundesliga will be broadcast live in Virtual Reality to an international audience (the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Asia and select Europe countries). There will be a total of seven cameras positioned around the arena to help provide the best possible experience. The VR broadcast will include commentary from former American professional soccer player and Bundesliga player Heath Pearce and FOX Sports commentator Mark Rogondino.
“We are thrilled to continue our relationship with FOX Sports and for the opportunity to produce a Bundesliga match,” NextVR executive chairman Brad Allen said in a statement. “We are excited about the growing diversity of NextVR’s content portfolio as we continue to provide international sports fans with a wide array of options including the opening game of the Bundesliga season.”
To view with NextVR, fans will need to have access to a Samsung Gear VR headset and a Samsung mobile phone (other devices won’t be compatible for this broadcast but could be in the future). Then they will have to download the free NextVR app. When in the app, fans will be able to view the games from multiple angles, including ground-level shots.
“The pipeline for captivating content in virtual reality keeps growing as we work with NextVR, and the Bundesliga match is an opportunity to provide fans with immersive content in the world’s most popular sport,” Fox Sports head of business operations David Nathanson said in a statement. “Providing early adopters of Virtual Reality with content in new markets allows fans globally to be a part of the action and take their viewing experiences to the next level.”
