Founded in 2020, Cosm is an immersive media company that creates a “shared reality” around live programming. Earlier this year, the company opened its first venue in Los Angeles, complete with a 26.6-meter-diameter dome screen. Last weekend, the doors opened at its second location at Grandscape in The Colony.
We had to see it for ourselves.
Upon entering, we found the screen even more breathtaking in person than it is online. Seating in “The Dome” is organized on three levels, each complete with lounge seating and an open bar. There’s also “The Hall,” a lounge area separate from The Dome with multiple large screens across the walls. Our tickets were for the second level of The Dome.
There were menus at our seats, but it was impossible to look at them. The screen demands your attention at all times. The visuals are buoyed by incredible sound design that amplifies the in-person crowd but lets you hear the event’s commentators.
Mind you, Cosm isn’t just an ESPN broadcast on a big screen. The company runs its own production at each live sporting event shown on its screens. Via a partnership with NBC Sports, TNT Sports, NCAA and the UFC, Cosm installs "C360" cameras onsite at events. The state-of-the-art immersive system captures video that can be played on such a scale.
At Cosm venues, a small production team switches angles for the show. For the U.S. Open broadcast, we counted six different camera angles for the crew to choose from. The views were simultaneously breathtaking and mind-numbing. You feel so close to the action while also being hyper-aware that you’re indulging in a sort of technological marvel.
If there’s any criticism, it would be that the production team never displayed its own score graphic on the screen. If you want to know the score, you have to look at the huge screen in front of you to find the much smaller screens in the stadium that show stats in real time.
The position of certain angles really does make it look like you’re sitting right in the middle of the stands, with in-person audience members clearly visible to your left or right.
That part was bizarre. At some points, you could notice audience members at the U.S. Open staring at the camera trying to figure out what it was. Some people in the room at Cosm waved instinctively. Others averted their gaze so as to not be rude. Again, it was instinctive, like reverse voyeurism: not watching others but questioning whether those others were somehow able to watch you.
The shifting of angles can play tricks on your mind. One minute your POV is settled on the bleachers, and the next minute you're on the field in the middle of the action. This can happen with regular TV viewing, but this experience is so realistic it's easy to get disoriented. The viewing experience could benefit from zooming into the next shot more seamlessly, but what do we know?
Oh, yeah, the food! Cosm’s menu offers standard American fare, dressed up to match the elevated futuristic sports-viewing aesthetic. Each seating level comes with its own open bar, allowing for quick drink runs during breaks in play.
We tried the Cholula chicken sandwich, steak tacos, chips and dip, lemon pepper wings and churros. The sandwich and wings were solid, both very crispy. The tacos were fantastic. The churros were a fun after-party to the regular meals. It’s hard to mess up chips and salsa, and they didn’t.
Waiters were extremely attentive and kind throughout the night. The environment feels more like a high-end luxury experience than it does a rowdy sports bar, and that appears to be intentional. The interior is neatly decorated, with pristine bar tops and seats.
That said, you pay for the experience you’re given. Cosm is expensive. For next Saturday’s Texas A&M vs. Florida college football matchup, the cheapest available general admission tickets for seats behind the designated viewing section in the Dome are $39. For a reserved spot with a decent view of the screen, you’re looking at a minimum of $77 for an individual and as much as $759 for a booth that seats six. We don't even want to imagine what the soccer World Cup seats are going to cost but, boy, it'll be worth it. (This would also be a great spot to catch a concert like Taylor's Swift Eras tour.)
After a set break, we explored the first and third levels. Each one definitely has its better and worse seats. The farther back your seat is, the more obstructions block a clear view of the screen. If you’re planning to go for an event you’re really excited to see, the first few rows on Level 2 are the way to go.
Cosm is being sold as the ultimate sports-viewing experience, and it does deliver on that promise, despite having some room to grow. It’s more of a triple than a home run, but a huge hit nonetheless.
