Feeling the Game: How OneCourt Is Changing Live Sports for Blind Fans

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS/GEEKWIRE

Football games are becoming more accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. The Seattle Seahawks were one of the few teams this season in the NFL’s OneCourt Pilot.  

OneCourt is an accessibility-focused tactile broadcast device that allows fans to “feel" the game's movements through the device. The device also connects to the teams radio broadcast so fans are able to hear audio about the games played with little to no delay. 

OneCourt is a tactical broadcast system that is designed specifically for blind or low level seeing people. Its device is a tablet about the size of a large hardcover book, with a smooth surface that is designed to vibrate in different patterns to represent player movement and ball position. Fans rest their hands on the device, feeling the action in vibrations across the board. It maps out the plays happening in the game, so fans can feel the action happen in real time. 

The device uses haptic technology that creates vibrations on the board that translates the live data of the game, such as player movements and ball positions on the board which fans can feel through their hands. 

The device is also able to pair with real time audio of the team’s radio broadcast so fans are able to pair touch and sound together. According to OneCourt, first-time users show a 74% increase in comprehension of live events compared with traditional audio-only descriptions.

In late 2025, the Seattle Seahawks became one of the first NFL teams to test OneCourt in stadium during two live games in the season. The activation let attendees use the haptic device and synced audio to follow each play at Lumen Field in real time, a big step beyond standard radio descriptions. 

The device has already been adapted by other professional sports. In the NBA, OneCourt teamed up with multiple franchises in partnership with Ticketmaster to bring the devices to fans at live games throughout the 2024-25 season. The Portland Trail Blazers became the first professional team to offer OneCourt at all home games, allowing blind and low-vision fans to feel every play of basketball action through haptic feedback.

Baseball teams also decided to hop into the action of OneCourt, at the Major League Baseball’s All-Star Weekend we saw early OneCourt demonstrations, and in 2025 the Arizona Diamondbacks became the first MLB team to offer the device at their home games, making it available free of charge to fans with visual disabilities.

Looking toward the future, the FIFA World Cup is looking to integrate the OneCourt devices into games being played at Lumen field during the 2026 World Cup. This would mark a first, for blind and low vision technology like this to be used at international levels of soccer.

As professional leagues are looking to make live sports more accessible with technologies like OneCourt, games like this can be more inclusive to all fans ensuring they can feel just as connected to the game as everyone else.