Is VR The Future Of Live Sports? We Tried Out The Meta Quest 3 VR Headset To Find Out

Will virtual reality headsets change how we watch live sports in the future?

It’s been widely publicized that Meta (formerly FaceBook) has invested a ton of money throughout the years trying to get people to adopt their VR headsets and become a part of their “Metaverse.” Apple, one of Meta’s biggest competitors in the space, has entered the fray and unleashed its $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset.

While the Metaverse community is still a big part of Meta’s strategy, they also seemed to have discovered that watching entertainment, especially live sporting events with enhanced features, could potentially be a big draw for sports fans.

We tested out the newest Meta Quest 3 headset (priced at $499 for the 128 GB version, $549 for the 512 GB version) to experience the live sports experience in VR for ourselves.

Here are some of the sports we consumed with the Quest 3.

Xtadium/NBA League Pass

Meta’s Xtadium app with NBA League Pass seemed to be the most polished app on Meta Quest 3. If you’re a league pass subscriber, there are various ways to enjoy NBA games.

First, there’s the multigame mode, which shows one game on the large center screen and every other game on smaller screens on the sides. The game on the larger screen is quickly interchangeable with any live game on League Pass.

There’s also an immersive VR mode, allowing you to watch select games as if you were actually sitting courtside inside an arena.

Some people have even figured out how to sync their Xbox and play video games while watching an NBA VR game.

MMA/UFC Fight pass

Meta has partnered with UFC Fight Pass to show certain regional MMA events, such as LFA and Cage Warriors, in VR. The LFA fight we saw in VR showed an above-the-cage camera angle that was superior to the regular camera angle.

While Meta doesn’t currently have the rights to show UFC events in VR, you can see how the UFC could potentially be enhanced in the future with a VR mode.

MLB TV app

My favorite experience with the Meta Quest sports apps came with the MLB TV app. If you’re a subscriber to MLB TV you can download the app for free and watch games with a large center screen, with team stats on the right side and pitchers/batters historical stats on the left side. The app’s most exciting feature is the virtual strike zone that shows precisely where a pitch lands and what kind of pitch is thrown immediately after the pitch.

NASCAR

The NASCAR experience on Xtadium shows a large screen for the race with eight smaller camera angles on thei sides that are quickly interchangeable with the main screen.

It’s unclear how many races are shown per year since there weren’t many races available on demand.

Meta Quest browser/YouTube TV

Using the Meta Quest browser, you can open up to three browsers at a time and easily pull up YouTube TV or ESPN+ while checking your social media feeds.

Final thoughts

The headset was much lighter than I thought it would be, but it did take my eyes a bit of time to adjust to looking at a screen up close for multiple hours.

I feel like I barely scratched the surface of the Meta Quest’s potential use for live sports. It’s clear that as the headsets get lighter, cheaper, and more powerful, more people will adopt them to watch sports, stream movies, and play video games.

There’s definitely potential for VR headsets to change how we consume sports, and given how rapidly the technology is advancing, that change seems to be coming sooner rather than later.