There’s a new NBA League Pass premium package that costs $249.99 for the entire season, and there’s a reason for that eye-popping price or $39.99 per month for that package. The NBA this season is offering continuous in-arena streaming coverage during breaks in the game that eliminates commercials for fans and enables them to watch footage from team huddles and live entertainment instead.
That’s one way to engage fans while still offering the traditional full season package of live out-of-market games at $199.99 or $28.99 per month. Another way that’s new to this season is a virtual reality subscription package that enables fans with Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream and Windows Mixed Reality headsets to watch NextVR’s season-long schedule of 27 games in virtual reality for $49.99.
The addition of the virtual reality package comes after NBA became the first professional sports league to offer a regular schedule of live games in VR. At the time the schedule was announced, fans needed to purchase the $199.99 traditional full season package to have access to the VR games (with the exception of the VR games within the free preview periods). The $99 half-season package in January provided access to VR games, and it wasn’t until late February when single games were offered in VR for $6.99.
For fans who want a close-up look at the action using a feed on mobile, NBA League Pass will for a second straight season offer NBA Mobile View, which provides zoomed-in, tighter shots of the action that are optimized for the smaller screen size of mobile devices.