The future of sports might be seen through a virtual reality headset.

That is a vision that is coalescing as every major consumer technology company works on building a virtual reality (VR) product as the same time most major sports leagues are experimenting with the technology to be able to exploit it when it arrives.

“There is this mad kind of race to get everybody into VR. I can speak from experience — every sports league, team, corporate America, sponsors and broadcasters. You name it, they all want to have a VR strategy,” says Brad Allen, chairman of Laguna Beach, Calif.-based NextVR. “Because they know this is coming and it is totally disruptive.”

NextVR is working on many VR experiences, but also is working with the NHL, NBA and has already filmed several other sporting events including the Premier League, the Masters and NCAA football games.

Last week at Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive festival, Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski had a good report on a panel about the NHL’s virtual reality pilot project, which worked with NextVR capturing 360-degree HD footage from last months Stadium Series between the San Jose Sharks and L.A. Kings.

“It was wild . . . I could turn around and see a person sitting in back of me,” said John Collins, chief operating officer of the NHL, speaking of his experience of donning the headset that makes this experience so immersive. “That was the thing that was pretty cool about it. It was a live experience. There’s going to be a technology soon where you’re going to be sitting at home and pick where you want to watch the game. You could be sitting at home and still watch it from your seat.”

That could be an incredible new cash cow for sports. In early March, Piper Jaffray, a research firm, wrote a note to investors saying that Oculus VR — the company that deserves credit for starting this new VR boom and was purchased by Facebook for $2 billion (U.S.) last year — could enable fans to watch NBA and NHL games from “virtual courtside and rinkside seats.” That could be a gold mine, as obviously, with the technology, that seat — or view — could be sold an infinite number of times. The report estimated that those seats could be a reality in about 10 years.

VR is a technology that has been hyped many times and so far failed, but this time it does feel different. Beyond ever major electronics company developing some type of headset and experimenting with games and other experiences, one of the big things pushing this forward is most headsets now use mobile phones to provide the images.

“The fact that this went from PC-based gaming only to mobile, that all of a sudden turned it into a mass consumer market product possibility,” says Allen. “How many billions of smartphones are out there? And the nice thing about the smartphones is they change every six months. There is a new, better screen and faster technology so the images and experiences are just getting better.”

Even in these early days, there is an absolute wow factor to the technology. Though not sports related, I have personally had a few jaw-dropping test experiences, experiencing incredible immersion. That said, I also have had a demo where the calibration was off, which left me with a headache and feeling nauseous for hours.

Beyond consumers, sports teams are already using the tech in other ways, liking training and coaching athletes, most notably Stanford and their football team.

“We see it in high school, over-exertion and decreased participation,” said Derek Belch, an assistant football coach at Stanford in another SXSW session. “Using virtual reality will give the players a break from two-a-days and help them mentally prepare for situations.”

In terms of limitations, Belch also said that athlete sessions were limited to a half hour, and other tests have shown that sitting through a whole game often caused disorientation for users.

There are lots of things that have to happen for this to truly work, not the least of which is how amenable people are to strapping on a bulky headset. Allen says that today’s big headsets are the equivalent of the early giant brick cellphones and that over time they will shrink to goggles to glasses, and quickly, simply because of how fast mobile phones are improving.

While the many technological questions, there are sports’ own issues. One thing I’m not sure how sports viewing might translate is that VR right now is very much like a solo experience. Although the counter argument there is that one day you and a far off friend could plug in and watch a game together. As well, game presentation will change in this new medium, although that’s an area where Allen says there really is an opportunity.

“With multiple camera angles, you will be able to transport yourself around the arena from, say a courtside seat view, to underneath or above the basket,” he says. “It’s giving the fans the opportunity to be closer to the action and to be the director, which is a key point.”

There will also be more interactive opportunities. One example he gives is during a break in a basketball game where you might be able to play a VR mini-game throwing some free throws, surrounded by the players from the teams.

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“That’s the type of thing that is really going to make this special,” says Allen.

As for how far off this is, Allen says this is a year to introduce consumers to the VR with demos and experiments.

But as many companies are rumoured to bring their headsets to market in the next two years, once there are enough in people’s homes, it shouldn’t be too long before the games really begin.