The Fox Sports division of US network Fox has furthered its partnership with broadcast technology company NextVR to allow college basketball coverage in virtual reality.
Continuing their recently-agreed relationship, Fox Sports and NextVR will broadcast the quarter-final, semi-final and championship games of the 2016 Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament worldwide in virtual reality from Madison Square Garden, New York.
The VR broadcasts begin on March 10, marking the first time a college basketball tournament will be broadcast live to a global audience in virtual reality. In total, seven games and more than 15 hours of live virtual reality coverage will be streamed over three days.
NextVR and Fox Sports’ coverage will offer immersive, high-definition views that will bring fans to centre court, near the sideline player huddles and under the basket. The live virtual stream will include audio and graphics highlighting player stats, scores and game updates.
“Our pipeline for premiere sports content keeps building and we're excited to deliver virtual reality programing with broad appeal to college sports fans, well-known early adopters of technology,” Brad Allen, NextVR chairman, said.
In February, NextVR and Fox Sports launched their partnership with the Daytona 500 motor race.