Fox Sports has already brought everything from the U.S. Open, Daytona 500, PBC Boxing and NCAA hoops to virtual reality through its partnership with NextVR. Now the sports broadcaster is bringing Monster Jam to the Fox Sports page of the NextVR app, which is available on Samsung Gear VR.

The first Monster Jam VR video on demand (VOD) package will be five minutes long and promoted on-air and launched during Sunday’s Inside Monster Jam airing on FS1 (July 3 at 4:30 p.m. ET). The overall event highlight package from the Monster Jam Gillette Stadium season-closing event will be introduced by Dennis Anderson, creator and driver of Grave Digger. The remainder of the VOD VR package will premiere during next Sunday’s second half of the Gillette Stadium show airing Sunday (July 10 at 7 p.m. ET) on FS1. The packages, which will include crowd segments and features on specific teams and drivers, mark the first time Fox Sports and NextVR are exploring VOD in VR.

Michael Davies, senior vice president of field and technical operations for Fox Sports, talks about the opportunities VR video on demand opens up for complementary VR sports engagement in this exclusive interview.

How did this monster truck VR experience come about?

Last year Fox Sports signed a deal with NextVR and they just finished up livestreaming the U.S. Open, which was the biggest multi-camera live shoot we’ve done together to date. We turned from golf to monster trucks. Monster trucks is something we always wanted to do. Feld Entertainment, which runs Monster Jam and Monster Energy Supercross, is a lean-forward company.

What does VOD open up in VR?

What we did with Monster Jam is different from the past. Since it’s not live event coverage NextVR filmed at Gillette Stadium, we edited that content into shorter packages. The interesting part is that this is an opportunity to capture an event and then boil it down to highlights, and then put that in VR. Monster trucks are an interesting proposition. We’re doing our best in VR to tell the story of what happened in the last meet in Foxborough.

What types of angles are you exploring?

Since NextVR shoots in stereoscopic 3D, it only helps monster trucks. The scale of these things is amazing. We tried to cover the event from the inside out, but using the features of the course that they have. We put cameras in various places where it looks good and is compelling. As long as the camera is safe, we don’t need a cameraman running it—which is different from a traditional camera. That gives us an advantage. We shot with two cameras, but because we’re editing the pieces, it looks like a lot more.

Monster Jam events have dead space between heats.

We treat each sport differently, but VOD packages work in VR as well as TV. When you’re watching Inside Monster Jam on TV and have a Gear VR headset, you can dive in and out of the VR experience and see a different perspective of the event. When we go and do drag racing in the future, we can piece that together with VOD packages as well.

How do you see this expanding in the future?

I always thought monster trucks would be interesting for VR. The demographic is perfect. I think we’ll be able to get high-quality VR cameras in the trucks in the future.

What did you learn from prior VR filming that you applied to Monster Jam?

When we did the U.S. Open, one thing that really resonated was when we went around and did a fair amount of behind the scenes pieces with people talking about the event. Ken Brown showing you around the 17th hole was some of the most compelling content we’d shot in VR. It was interesting to have someone talk to you and say ‘look over here.’ . . . With Monster Jam we were at the Pit Party to shoot some of the flavor of the event. We have some peripheral content from the event beyond the trucks. But one of the most interesting things is the ‘tire up’—which is the monster truck coming out of its trailer in tiny tires and the process to put big tires on it. We shot all of that in VR.

What’s it been like working with Feld Entertainment, which has been active over the years making Monster Jam and Supercross video games?

It’s interesting you mention video games because the more we do this type of VR, we feel like we’re trying to emulate what you might be able to see in a video game. We’re working on adding shot tracers in the VR experience. The lean-forward promise of VR is going to make it interesting in live sports. Little by little, you’ll see more interactivity coming with VR offerings in live sports.

What role do you see VOD playing in VR?

Live is the hallmark of VR, but VOD will orbit around the live event. We’ll learn more about how to do sports in VOD. And hopefully we can continue innovating. One of the strengths of VR is that Monster Jam is a cool sport to experience, and a lot of people haven’t. It’s also great evergreen content.

What potential do you see for Feld’s Supercross in VR?

Supercross is something we’re spending a lot of time to plan it out. We’re waiting until next season to not rush it. We’re thinking about the production to make sure we get it right out of the gate. We think it will be amazing in VR. Supercross will probably happen live with multiple cameras. We’re talking to Feld and NextVR about bringing it this coming season to VR.

How quickly are you learning about what works and what doesn’t in VR?

We’ve done nine events in VR now. Each experience has helped us with things like where to put the cameras and how to tell the story. The production aspect is vital to what the experience ends up being, and the amount of time people spend in VR. Even with Monster Jam we learned new things about editing and posting a nice, polished experience.

How do you see livestreaming VR improving?

With live sports, we’re working with replays. For example, if you see a crash in NASCAR on TV, you can then experience it in VR.

Samsung is bringing one-day-delayed Olympics coverage to Samsung Gear VR this August. What impact could that big push have on sports VR?

The Olympics helps the cause, for sure. A rising tide floats all boats. One of the bottlenecks we have is on the consumer end. There’s a finite amount of devices you can use right now with the Gear or Cardboard. When people say ‘the Olympics is a big deal,’ the question is always, ‘how do I watch it?’ Consumer VR devices have a big way to go.

Does it matter that the Olympics won’t be livestreamed?

If there’s something incredible that happens on one day, there will be a drive to watch that moment in VR the next day. Assuming the experience will be a good one—and some of the same guys we use will be doing some of the Olympics VR coverage—it could increase the demand of what we’re doing.

How do you see Google Daydream impacting the VR market this fall?

Google Daydream is going to help us out as an industry. We’re going to see a dissemination of the devices over the next 8-to-12 months. We’re happy with Google’s approach. And Sony’s PlayStation VR is also going to be good for the industry.

What is VR opening up for brands and sponsors?

Even now when there aren’t a lot of devices out there, we’re getting a lot of interest from marketers saying they want a virtual reality experience attached to whatever we’re doing. They want to be associated with cutting-edge innovation like Lexus with the U.S. Open experience.