With talks more and more hopeful. major sports leagues around the country are continuing to discuss either starting their season or continuing it. The one constant that has been coming up in order for games to resume would be the fact that there would be no fans. We have seen the Chinese Professional Baseball League and the KBO already start to resume play in their countries all without any fans in attendance. Although players, officials and staff are going to be allowed to start participating in activities again, large gatherings of people may not be allowed until we have a better way to ensure the safety of everyone attending. Until then it’s time to brainstorm ideas for ways to fans to be as close to the game as possible.

Hopefully by the time the postseason comes around, we may be able to have people start returning to stadiums to enjoy seeing their teams play. It’s going to be weird seeing no fans at any regular season games, but part of the excitement of playing in the playoffs is seeing that crowd come alive. There’s no better atmosphere for a player to compete in than that. Even if your team makes it to the playoffs they may not be playing in their home stadiums because of the weather in their state being unplayable. MLB teams have already started to refund or credit people who had purchased tickets for March, April and May. I believe each team had the discretion of issuing refunds or credit their own way. With that being said ticket sales and local revenue comprise some 40% of the industry’s estimated $10.5 billion in revenue. I think I may have a solution for them to at least make up for some of that lost revenue.

---

---

Above is a video of what it would be like watching a live NBA game via a VR headset and the NEXTVR app. Back when the NBA was still playing, if you had a league pass, you would have been able to watch 26 games game via the VR headset. The NEXTVR app is compatible with Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, PS VR, Vive/Vive Pro and other platforms. The app also has other content including Boxing, Comedy VR, Fox Sports, Champions Cup, Wimbledon and more. Now VR hasn’t been the go to for sports fans to watch games, from what I have seen it looks like you have this baseline view of the game right at the rim. I would expect more people would want to watch virtually through the sideline, but the baseline view is still really great. The content is created just for the virtual experience, this includes announcers just for this channel. All in all it’s a pretty cool way to experience an event.

Now the framework of VR sport watching is there, and I believe that the experience is good enough that people would pay for. If NEXTVR and the MLB could work out some type of deal for the year that would allow them to virtually broadcast their games and have people pay a season pass to watch games, most likely with MLB.TV. There are a number of seats and viewpoints that you could have watching the game via VR, your seat view could be behind the home/away dugouts and behind home plate. Another interesting way they could give you more views and angles from the game could include a dugout, bullpen and broadcast booth virtual view. Could you imagine watching the game from the top step of the dugout and see Aaron Judge standing next to you in the Yankee dugout. I think that’s a baseball fans dream right there, truly immersing the viewer into the experience all while from the comfort of your own home. It’s something I would definitely spend money on to watch games if fans aren’t going to be allowed in the stadium this year.

It’s going to be MLB’s job to give even more access to fans because of this whole situation. If fans aren’t allowed at games, you have to make them feel like they are. There’s no better experience that I’ve seen to watch games than NEXTVR. Yes there are some complications with the idea, one would have to own a headset and then purchase a season pass to watch the games. The VR set alone may run you $350 and even then, there can only be one person watching via the headset. MLB is going to have to get creative to incorporate fans, being their virtually can not only make up for that, but gets them some of it’s ticket sale revenue back. In addition, they could have people record chanting via there phones and play it during the games to at least to show the players that their fans are showing them support even though they physically can’t be there. It’s going to be interesting to see how MLB runs this season, but I think the VR solution to watching games is one way they can definitely generate some of their lost revenue because I know many people who would jump at the opportunity to have the best seat in the house without having left their couch.