LeBron James looks taller in VR. That was the one thought that I kept returning to as I watched Apple’s big push into live sports. The “Spectrum Front Row in Apple Immersive” experience went live on Apple Vision Pro headsets last week, and already it may be one of Apple’s most ambitious entertainment ventures to date. If you’re a Los Angeles Lakers fan, it’s the best way to watch the game without shelling out hundreds or even thousands for season tickets. It’s still far from the best version of what VR live sports could be.
The folk behind Apple TV are not going the Netflix route by further segmenting sports even more like it did with the NFL. Instead, Apple worked with Spectrum through the Spectrum SportsNet app to capture a total of six live games specifically for the brave few who hang onto their Apple Vision Pro headsets and also live in Southern California, Nevada, or Hawaii (the Lakers’ local broadcast territory) to get access to Spectrum internet or a supported cable provider. You can also access games the next day with the NBA app and a League Pass subscription.
Cable cutters are still screwed if they’re trying to watch live games. Sorry if you’re a Lakers fan who just doesn’t happen to live in California anymore. Apple granted me a pass to watch the game from the cheap seats out in New York. I would have otherwise had fewer options for watching the game on the other side of the country. Of course, that also means I didn’t have any ability to record or capture screenshots in the app. You’ll just have to trust me when I say even the recorded footage and small broadcast blemishes looked striking inside the Vision Pro.
Beyond the morass of live sports subscriptions, I’m not one who cares much about the NBA or really any sport that doesn’t help me get through the holidays without needing to talk to my parents. Still, watching basketball through the Vision Pro is the closest I’ll likely ever get to sitting courtside at a major NBA game. The experience is missing only one crucial element, and it’s something Apple has routinely struggled to grasp throughout its recent adventure with augmented reality tech.
An expensive Vision Pro is still cheaper than courtside tickets
I didn’t get to watch the Milwaukee Bucks play the LA Lakers live on Jan. 9. I was too busy sleeping through my flight home after covering CES 2026 for a week straight. So I came at the pre-recorded game with as much energy as was left in the tank the Monday after. It’s clear from the jump that Spectrum Front Row is a bespoke experience. Commentators Mark Rogondino and former Lakers forward Danny Green regularly mentioned how the experience was a special broadcast specifically built for those who paid $3,500 for a Vision Pro. However, if you’re planning to watch b-ball in your headset, you better be a fan of the LA Lakers. The specialist cameras that allow for this 180-degree capture are only positioned in the Crypto.com Arena.
The camera regularly cut down to the court while players warmed up with pre-game drills. The national anthem sounded so loud my coworkers came over thinking there was a man outside our Manhattan office ironically intoning “home of the free” into a loudspeaker. And when the game finally started, I was taken aback by the feeling of being present. There are three cameras Apple set up to capture the near-180-degree footage you can watch through the Vision Pro headset. One is located at the scorer’s table. The other two are positioned behind the baskets.
The Vision Pro’s 100-degree field of view means you’re supposed to move your head to follow the action. That means as I tried to follow Lakers’ Luka Dončić as he took a three-pointer from the far side of the court, I missed the Bucks’ defense gearing up for the return to the other side of the court. It’s what you don’t know that makes games interesting. When you’re watching at home, with the cameras high above the court, you feel more like an overlord than a spectator. It’s only when you can get down low enough to feel part of the action—as well as note just how large these 6- to 7-foot-tall players truly are—that you’ll finally see the appeal of ultra-luxury courtside tickets.
Apple still hasn’t learned this lesson about AR
The problem with this current camera setup is the full field of view gets cut off right at the corners of the court. That means you won’t see the coaches whinging on the outside, and you may miss a free throw from the far side. Instead of offering an ovular field of view, the outline cuts into the picture, with two half-circles intruding into your line of sight. The two cameras positioned behind each basket aren’t too shabby, either, though the hoop will sometimes obstruct what’s happening in front.
Like any regular basketball broadcast, there’s a team behind the scenes dictating which camera they cut to for the sake of following the action. There’s a logic behind it. You want to see the dunks and alley-oops up close, where the twang of the basket is so much louder in your ears. The cuts weren’t so much disorienting as intrusive. There were times I would have preferred to remain at the scorer’s table, and other times I wanted to swap to the far side to see more of the action. The Spectrum SportsNet app doesn’t allow any modicum of manual control. The stream to your headset is merely media playback, just with the added benefit of an all-around view.
That added bit of control would turn the experience from passive into a truly novel way to experience these games. Whereas Apple’s smattering of spatial experiences, like its short film Submerged, were designed to offer select shots for maximum effect, a live game is distinct. Sure, broadcasters have plenty of experience telling people what to watch when it’s happening, but discerning viewers who think they know better now have the chance to control that view themselves.
Apple still has an opportunity here. Meta has already been in the game of live VR sports through its Meta Quest headsets and the Xtadium app. That includes Lakers games. The Vision Pro’s dual 4K micro OLED displays will offer better picture quality. Now, the only question is whether we’ll see a larger variety of sports available. That could be hockey or MMA, but I personally would enjoy watching volleyball or table tennis matches up close. There are more Apple Vision Pro Lakers games going on from February into March, just five more in total. It’s a shame so few people will get to experience it, considering the restrictive tie-in to Spectrum. In that way, courtside tickets will remain just as exclusive as they always were.
