I love watching sport live at a stadium or venue, but like most people that’s not possible for the majority of games – so when I first saw the concept of COSM I just had to check it out. I’ve been twice now at two different COSM venues in Los Angeles and Dallas and it is by far the most immersive sports viewing experience outside of being at the game.
At it’s core, I’d describe COSM as a high-tech high-class sports bar experience. This isn’t a place you can get a beer and watch sport on TV. This is more like a first-class airline lounge for with a high-class bar and table service food.
Add to that the biggest screens you’ll see in any sports bar and we’re on a winner.
For $22 you can sit in the simple unreserved open areas of COSM and watch enormous big-screen live sport, multiple games at any one time.
But, the real magic of COSM is in the “Shared Reality” Experience in “the Dome”. Think of the promise of immersive video in headsets like Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro, but do it without the headset.
If you’ve seen The Sphere in Las Vegas, this is a mini version of that. Hundreds of seats in front of a floor to ceiling side to side spherical screen where you’re sitting in the middle of the sphere seeing a quarter cut of the whole spherical screen around you – even above you.
These are not grandstand seats either. Comfy and large couches as well as bench seating – all numbered and allocated across three levels.
Down the bottom level you can get seats between $55 and $72 each, on the premium second level seats range from $94 to $121 while in the third level it’s a tier of seating between $72 and $110. (These prices were for one sports even we checked, the movie style shows they put on are cheaper still, and I’m sure events like Superbowl come at a premium!)
But, while you could just put the live TV coverage on this massive screen, they don’t. They only host sports where they have access to immersive video content.
At the NFL, NBA, College Football and many more sports the COSM team have multiple cameras. For the College football and NFL we saw they had cameras hanging under the posts, and on the sideline and in the grandstands.
COSM will switch between these views at different times, and I’d say my only feedback would be to show the widest possible view as much as possible. Sitting as if we were on or under the goal posts was a bit of a tough way to actually enjoy the game.
They insert a Broadcast “TV” picture into the top corners of the screen, but this is a long way up to look at, so we were discussing that they should put small TV monitors at each of the seating areas – like you would have at a corporate box at the actual stadiums.
For a casual fan, I’d recommend General Admission, and just ask the staff to peek into the DOME area, then take your seat and enjoy some food and drinks and some massive, massive screens.
If you’re right into it, get a seat on level 2 or 3 and really get into it – we were blown away by how engaged the crowd was for the College Football game we saw – it was as awesome as being there.
These are entertainment venues, and If I was the NRL or any other sport like that I’d want my sport to be shown here, a brilliant showcase.
COSM will expand across the USA, but would it work in Australia? Probably not. Not enough live sport across the week in the afternoon/evening timeslot to really put bums on seats – but man, I’d love to see it.
If you’re visiting Los Angeles, or traveling to Dallas any time soon and you love sport, take my tip and check out a game at COSM, you won’t regret it.
It can seem – if you get the photo angle right – like you’re there at the game:)
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair.
Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave.
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