Apple invited me to try the Apple Vision Pro and, after using it to watch a Lakers game on Apple Immersive, I can say without exaggeration, it is an experience that completely changes the way we consume sports.
It is not virtual reality, it is not a giant screen… it is literally feeling in the sand, a few steps from the court, with a perspective that does not exist in any traditional format.
During the demo, I felt the vibration of the Crypto.com Arena—or the closest thing to being there—as cameras captured the game from angles impossible for conventional television.
The sound, depth, and closeness to the action make you forget you’re wearing a headset. It’s like teleporting to a VIP seat without leaving your room and allows you to move from one moment to the next with just a few movements with your fingers, without controls at hand.
The Lakers are the first NBA team to offer their games on Apple Immersive since the 2025-26 season began, in partnership with Spectrum SportsNet. The signal features a selection of live matches that are broadcast “as if you were there”, captured with Blackmagic Design’s URSA Cine Immersive Live, a camera created specifically for this format and which will be commercially available next year.
The Lakers put you in the front row from home thanks to Apple technology. With cameras designed to capture impossible angles, the headset allows you to feel the vibe of the game as if you were sitting in the front row.
(HANDOUT / APPLE)
Fans within the Lakers’ regional territory — including Southern California, Hawaii and parts of Southern Nevada — will be able to watch games live through the new Spectrum SportsNet app for Vision Pro, arriving early next year.
For those out of market, the Vision Pro will also offer full replays and highlights through the SportsNet and NBA apps in select countries.
The platform mixes cinema, music, travel and now high-impact sports. Just as it already offers experiences with Metallica, Real Madrid, MotoGP or the Audi F1 Team.
The Vision Pro allows access to traditional broadcasting via Spectrum TV and the NBA app. Users with League Pass can watch up to five 2D games simultaneously with multi-view and review real-time statistics. In addition, some games offer a “tabletop mode”, where the court appears as a 3D model that allows you to analyze movements and plays from above.
Testing the Vision Pro with a Lakers game made it clear to me that we are at the beginning of a new way of watching sports at home. It does not replace the experience of going to the arena, but it does reinvent it, because it gives you a seat that does not exist, an impossible angle, a proximity that was previously the privilege of a few.
This is a step towards an era in which fans who do not have the ability to travel to other cities or countries will now be able to “be” in any arena or stadium in the world from their living room.
