NCAA Final Four Semifinals & National Championship Will Stream in Virtual Reality

Live game coverage will be offered in virtual reality.  

NCAA March Madness Live, CBS, NCAA Corporate Champion Capital One, and Oculus have announced a partnership to provide virtual reality coverage for the NCAA Final Four Semifinals & National Championship games. Live VR coverage will be available through a new virtual reality version of the NCAA March Madness Live app in the Oculus Store for Samsung Gear VR Headsets.

The NCAA VR coverage will offer an immersive 180 degree live stream of the upcoming games from a courtside perspective. In addition, the app will also include a virtual scoreboard with live stats; game commentary from Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson; sounds from the arena; and access to the full tournament bracket complete with video highlights from each game. Beyond the Gear VR app, a 2D, 180 degree live stream of the Final Four Semifinals and National Championship game will also be offered for desktops, along with 360 degree highlights on the NCAA March Madness Facebook page. More details are viewable at www.ncaa.com/marchmadnesslive.

The Semifinals will be held Saturday, April 2, and coverage will commence at 3 p.m. ET. The National Championship will then follow on Monday, April 4 at 7 p.m. ET.

Gear VR users can now download the NCAA March Madness Live VR App for free through the Oculus store. The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset that weighs just 318g and offers an FOV of 96 degrees. Gear VR currently works in conjunction with Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 edge, Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 edge smartphones, using each device's super AMOLED display to help create an immersive VR experience. Suggested retail price for the Gear VR is $99.

Source: NCAA