You may have seen the clips going viral on social media. The fans watching sporting events indoors, on a huge screen that makes them feel as though they are in the stadium of their choice. It’s a venue that has been frequented by the likes of Hollywood actor Danny DeVito and has transformed the way top-level European football can be consumed in the United States.
So, how does Cosm, as the new concept is known, compare to the real thing? The Athletic found out. We sent Pablo Maurer to Cosm Los Angeles to take in Fulham vs Arsenal yesterday, while Caoimhe O’Neill watched the action in person from the crowd at Fulham’s Craven Cottage stadium.
Remnants of Storm Darragh batter Fulham fans as they make their way down the steps at Putney Bridge station. They are met by calls of “Get your matchday scarves” and others trying to offload spare match tickets. It is 35 minutes until the 2pm kick-off but nobody seems in any great rush, even in the rain, as the last few Arsenal supporters finish their pints of beer and leave The Eight Bells pub.
Cosm Los Angeles is a 87ft (26.5m) wide video screen that completely and totally immerses you. Cosm takes the American obsession with making nearly every sporting event a “premium” experience to the extreme, plopping you down on a couch, essentially, in what appears to be the middle of a stadium on another continent.
Let’s get this out of the way: there is no way, really, to convey the scale of the screen at Cosm. You are essentially sitting inside of it, so to speak, as it cycles through four different camera angles beamed directly from, in this case, Craven Cottage.
The four-camera setup is managed by Cosm staff and one of those views comes from directly behind the goal, which proved to be my favourite. You can study players at the near post as they relay defensive tactics and watch the goalkeeper position his defenders.
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