Facebook has signed a multiyear deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) which makes Oculus an official marketing and VR headset partner of the NBA, Women’s NBA (WNBA) and NBA G League.

Oculus is now considered ‘the presenting partner’ of the NBA Rail Cam Replay on ESPN, ABC and TNT, which will now be called ‘Oculus Front Row View’. The newly-dubbed Oculus Front Row View is a mobile table-mounted camera that captures the action as it moves up and down the court.

In addition to its Oculus Venues coverage, accessible through NBA League Pass on Quest and Go, the company also says the new camera angle will be “just one of the many ways the NBA and Oculus will provide an innovative experience for fans watching games at home.”

The marketing deal coincides with the start of the 2020 NBA Playoffs. You can check out the full NBA VR schedule here, accessible via Oculus Venues for Quest and Go.

“This partnership furthers our ongoing commitment to engage with fans of the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League in new and innovative ways,” said Julie Morris, Vice President of Media & Business Development at the NBA. “Together with Oculus, we will create new experiences for our fans while also bringing them closer to the action through Oculus’ state-of-the-art VR devices.”

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NextVR, which was acquired by Apple earlier this year, previously held exclusive rights to streaming NBA games and replays in immersive 3D 180 degree video. Those licensing rights had fallen to Yahoo Sports and the VR production team RYOT, which covered 13 seeding games up until August 12th. Now it seems Facebook will not only be taking over that role, but also expanding it with the addition of marketing for the WBNA and NBA G League.

In addition NBA finals coverage, Oculus will have a presence throughout both ESPN Wide World of Sports and IMG Academy as the 2019-20 NBA season and 2020 WNBA season continues in Orlando and Bradenton, Florida.

The deal brings Oculus signage to games as well as Oculus Quest headsets to NBA and WNBA players.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Sean

    Having had this discussion with their customer service yesterday, none of the playoff games will be available live. You can watch them three days after they finish if you are some kind of weirdo

  • Ad

    This is a joke. At least it was some broadcasting start up before but now Facebook has the rights? I’m sure all these players locked in the bubble are totally going to wear Zuck’s headsets and give him free advertisements. Did the deal specify they had to cater to all headsets or are they really going to try and suck this into Horizon?

  • Gimbo 4inrev

    Where is it …only Metallica concerts and other booring stuff, no NBA :(

  • JS

    I’m sorry but VR headsets lack the quality needed for the mainstream to watch any sports. Especially when compared to sitting in a living room watching your UHD tv (which is available for $400 nowadays). Until we have headsets with 50+ PPD VR sports or movies won’t be mainstream enoyjable. Yes VR enthusiasts may tolerate it, but not the average person. Oculus has given up on improvements to resolution, so I don’t see this getting solved for at least a decade.

    • xyzs

      Yeah, for now it’s heavy bulky, very low res. only a few geek into VR + basketball will end up using it.
      If they want to make it popular, they need like the smartphone industry, to iterate their hardware regularly to create innovation, and that will lead to more people into VR, then more money as a result. For now, hardware has more or less the same specs for the past 5 years, it’s a pretty boring the evolution that is not even close to become mainstream.

  • Well, at least this will create some more awareness for VR

  • brandon9271

    Free Hong Kong ;)

  • Igorland

    I want:

    1. A *total* field of view, 8k each eye resolution headset.
    2. A vr 180 camera with resolution as good as any regular camera.
    3. A 3D walkthrough home/world design program.
    4. A Wander Google map street view in 3D.

    I would buy all of that TOMORROW if it were out.