Is shared reality the new way to watch sports?

A new sporting experience is taking big-screen viewing to the next level.

A social media post went viral this week showcasing a new shared reality venue Cosm where fans feel part of a crowd, sitting close to the action of an EPL fixture despite being 8500km away from the real action.

A camera at the actual sports venue shows live images on to a massive wrap-around screen giving fans the impression they are at the ground. The match shown in the Instagram post was at Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium while the two current Cosm venues are in Los Angeles and Dallas.

Two thousand fans can pack into the Hollywood Park, in Los Angeles location and pricing fluctuates depending on seat location and the event that is being broadcast.

Attendees have access to food and beverage options at the venue.

Cosm has events on its calendar for Premier League, NBA, UFC, the US Open tennis, College basketball and College football matches after signing a multi-year deal with broadcaster ESPN.

Social media users were shocked at how realistic the experience appears, with some at first thinking the footage was from Old Trafford in Manchester rather than in a bar.

“You mean to tell me these guys weren’t physically present in the stadium? I thought that was the OT [Old Trafford],” one X user wrote.

Cosm CEO Jeb Terry told American media the aim is to provide a one-stop-shop for as much sports viewing as they can get their hands on.

“We look at each venue almost like its own TV channel, with the anchor of live sports, and then layering in shoulder and support programming to fill the rest of our day.

“We want to have programming on all the time. You look at a day in the life - Premier League match on Saturday morning, leading into a two-event slate of college football, leading into a UFC fight, leading into an after-party that evening. The promise is to always have something very compelling on.”

It comes at a time where sporting organisations strain to get their fans into stadia and perhaps signals a tangible move away from the disconnect some feel from the teams they support due to distance - NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum has gone on record to say that 90% of their fans will never set foot in a stadium.

Cosm’s roots are in flight simulators and technology used in planetariums. The Cosm Experience Center in Utah was where in 1963 renowned computer graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland designed the Sketchpad, the first computer drawing program.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission