MLB needs to figure out how to get more people watching immersive baseball games
Apple TV's Friday Night Baseball immersive broadcasts have been eye-opening. This is the future of watching MLB baseball.
The killer app for Apple Vision Pro isn't an app at all. It's an immersive baseball game. I know this because my wife, who has never wanted to use the Vision Pro in our house for more than a minute, didn't want to stop watching the San Diego Padres playing during Apple TV's live immersive broadcast. "Okay, that's really cool," she remarked after reluctantly taking it off to give one of our kids a turn to watch.
Maybe it helps that the Padres are our team. Would she have wanted to spend hours watching any baseball game on a Friday night? Probably not. But that's why MLB should be doing everything it can to get every team's game streaming in immersive video. Each team's fan base would love watching their own players up close and personal.
Why immersive baseball should become MLB's problem, not Apple's
After watching two immersive baseball games in the Vision Pro, it's now the experience I think of whenever I turn on a regular broadcast on my TV. I picture the view from behind home plate or viewing the on-deck circle. Whenever there's a scoring play, I imagine being in the dugout and seeing life-sized players afterwards, high-fiving.
Once you've seen one game, it's hard not to imagine them all like this. It's transformative. I've seen a few of Apple's immersive NBA games, and they're fun too. But I haven't longed to watch every NBA game that way. Maybe it's the camera placements for that sport, or maybe I have a bias towards baseball, but I think MLB games are just better in the immersive format.
MLB does have a video game-like immersive view in its app. The stadium and players are all rendered graphics and move in near real-time. It's impressive for what it is. I especially like it because data like launch angle and speed are overlaid on the ball path. I've watched several games like this. It's neat. But it's just not the same as having a wide-angle camera on the field.
It's nice that Apple is leading the charge with its hardware, but ultimately I think this is MLB's problem to address and champion so all fans get to experience it. In the coming year or two, it should be offering streams for every game.
The future of headsets doesn't have to be a Vision Pro—and shouldn't
Of course, to watch an immersive game you need a way to view it. The Apple Vision Pro is one way, but it's not the mainstream answer.
The most obvious hurdles are its high price and heavy weight. I would love to see Apple solve these two problems by creating a simplified device focused on immersive content, instead of trying to create a whole new computing platform.
After trying plenty of VR headsets and projection glasses over the last five years, I don't think there's any one product that's found a perfect formula yet. I do think it's easy to see how some of the $400 projection glasses could be enhanced to create an even more advanced movie theater for your face.
Whether it's for live sports, 3D movies, or even expansive YouTube videos, a sub-$1,000 pair of video-watching glasses could have some serious legs. In order to want to watch a three-hour baseball game, comfort would have to be prioritized.
As soon as I saw a live immersive baseball game, I knew it should be the future. Among other things, it's addictive to sit in the front row. But I'm also an early adopter. Seeing my wife get excited by a game like this has only confirmed my enthusiasm. Baseball is better when you're in the stadium, whether in person or virtually.