Inside Cosm, The Viral Entertainment Venue That Wants To Change How The World Watches Sports
Cosm is difficult to explain in words.
During a screening of the Sept. 28 Louisville-Notre Dame college football game, fans throughout the three-tiered stadium seating at Cosm Dallas FaceTimed with friends and family to offer a glimpse of the spectacle, letting the video do the talking.
The 87-foot diameter, 12K LED dome screen put patrons so close to the action that they jumped back when players came barreling toward the screen. But instead of braving the elements at rainy Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, supporters of the Cardinals and the Fighting Irish watched from the climate-controlled comfort of plush seats, served by a full waitstaff offering up wagyu burgers and pork belly banh mi alongside a full menu of signature cocktails.
“I think it’s an awesome experience,” Notre Dame fan Patrice Murphy said of her and her husband’s first impression. “It’s better than being there.”
A long list of sold-out events at Cosm’s first two locations and a bevy of viral videos show that’s a popular take. Cosm opened its first location in Los Angeles in July. The Dallas Cosm opened about a month later in The Colony, and a third is on the way to Centennial Yards in Atlanta.
Yet Cosm is far from done.
The immersive sports entertainment company is actively looking for locations in at least 10 U.S. cities, aligning with its long-term vision to become a ubiquitous presence both at home and abroad. And it has the means to make it happen: The company was valued at more than $1B during a funding round in July that saw it raise $250M-plus marked for growth.
Cosm has its next sights set on Chicago, New England, Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix and Denver, Cosm CEO Jeb Terry told Bisnow — destinations that had been previously unreported. Its fourth location could be announced by the end of the year, and a few more could follow in early 2025 as the company marches toward at least 100 global locations.
“I think the market can bear more than that,” Terry said. “My goal in the next five to 10 years is to make sure wherever you are in the world, people know what Cosm is.”
Enthusiasm is high, and investors and real estate professionals say the concept scratches an itch for sports fans that is already driving heavy traffic to the entertainment districts where it is putting down roots.
But with major money and expectations on the line, whether Cosm becomes as omnipresent as Topgolf or goes the way of drive-in theaters or disco roller rinks remains a lingering question.
And some wonder if its pricing model, ranging from $22 for “first come, first served” tickets to upwards of $125 for one premium reserved seat, is sustainable and whether the company can stay on top of technology and other high costs.
‘It’s Just Cosm’
Terry is fond of the catchphrase “it’s just Cosm” to describe how the venues operate in press interviews, and it’s true that words often fail.
“People have got to see it,” The Colony City Manager Troy Powell said. “It's not a movie theater. It's almost like an amusement park ride, but I don't even know how to explain it.”
@davebriggstv Whst is @Cosm The sports bar of the future, a mini Sphere, a kickass movie theater, a planetarium? As CEO Jeb Terry told me, “its just Cosm!” Check out their immersive technology Dome. #sports #techtok #collegefootball #sphere #losangeles #dallas #atlanta @CosmLosAngeles @Cheddar ♬ Game Day - ROKKA
LA-based Cosm’s closest analogue might be the Sphere at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, the most expensive entertainment venue ever built in a city famous for them. The $2.3B, 500K SF entertainment venue was mocked as the “architectural embodiment of ridiculousness” and got off to a rocky financial start.
It has been a hit with tourists, though, most recently reporting it is selling $1M in tickets a day — an indication of Cosm’s potential on a far grander scale.
Cosm is banking on garnering that same kind of appeal, and unlike its Las Vegas forefather, benefiting from repeat business.
“We’ve tried to always be a local spot wherever we go, and we want you here multiple times a week,” Cosm Senior Vice President of Venues and Entertainment Tyler Washburne told The Colony City Council last year, adding the Sphere was an apt comparison. “But people go to Las Vegas once every four years, right? Here in the Metroplex and surrounding area, it’s definitely going to be a destination.”
Terry has said Cosm’s mission is nothing less than redefining “the way the world experiences content.” Its domes in LA and Dallas offer an up-close viewing experience that aims to put fans in the best seat in the house at all points of a game, performance or immersive art experience.
“The core of the concept is shared reality. It's leveraging the best of the tech industry, everything happening in the immersive space, but combining that with this human element, the experience economy where fans gather,” Terry said. “It's not a theater, it's not a performance hall, it's just a Cosm.”
Cosm got its start and part of its name — a mix of cosmos and colosseum — in 2020 when Mirasol Capital, the family office of RealPage founder and billionaire Steve Winn, acquired Evans & Sunderland for $14.5M. E&S is the world’s largest planetarium company, powering about 700 of them around the globe, as well as the backbone of Cosm technology.
Follow-up acquisitions included LiveLikeVR, which became Cosm’s immersive production team, and C360, responsible for features like the “pylon camera” in its football streams.
From there, Cosm formed official partnerships with the NBA, UFC, ESPN, NBC Sports, TNT Sports and FOX Sports. That allowed patrons to see live productions of college football, UFC matches, English Premier League soccer, college and professional basketball, NHL games and more. But venues also host art and entertainment experiences from Cirque du Soleil and new media artists.
“It's with this core group of businesses that we've acquired that allowed us to create the foundation of what Cosm is today, a bunch of fantastic capabilities of technologies and team members that really helped build where we're going,” Terry said.
Cosm took the internet by storm this summer when news of its eye-popping fundraise and video footage of its technology piqued interest and sent lines wrapping around its first two venues for the hottest tickets.
The $250M July raise included investors such as Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports, Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures, David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures and Scotland-based investment firm Baillie Gifford.
They also included Winn’s Mirasol Capital, where Terry has served as managing director since 2021, according to LinkedIn. Terry, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman, has more than a decade of experience working in private equity and the digital sports world, including a stint as vice president of emerging technology for FOX Sports Digital.
“This is the culmination of five long years of research, development, and investment in a new form of experiential entertainment,” Winn said at the time. “Adding strategic and financial partners makes great sense to help fuel rapid expansion into other locations now that fans can experience the electrifying Cosm experience.”
Rock Entertainment Group CEO Nic Barlage told Bisnow its decision to be a part of the funding round came down to Cosm’s management team, its technology and a belief it represents a unique way to activate commercial real estate in places like Cleveland and Detroit. Gilbert, owner of REG parent company Rock Ventures, also owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage.
Barlage declined to disclose how much REG contributed to Cosm’s latest fundraising effort, but said it felt there is a high level of demand for live entertainment tethered to a “premium experience.” Cosm’s concept offers scalability, and it fills a gap REG had already identified.
“I'm a firm believer that I don't think there's ever going to be something that's going to replace sitting courtside in an NBA game, or sitting on the ice at an NHL game or sitting pitchside at a soccer game. That live atmosphere has so much vibrancy to it,” Barlage said. “But I have to tell you, part of our thesis behind Cosm was this is as close as we've ever seen.”
Building Shared Reality
Before The Colony's city council last year, Washburne said Cosm’s goal was building 50 U.S. sites within the next decade, replicating the path of fellow experiential retailer Topgolf.
Terry revealed few specifics about Cosm’s financial and real estate strategy, declining to comment on how it would deploy its huge war chest or where new venues would go. But he did say Cosm will likely open in Europe “sooner than later” and that the company intends to move fast.
“We're going to try to scale as fast as we can, but we're going to scale efficiently,” Terry said. “We're going to make sure we pick the right sites to bring our venues and the right cities and the right partners.”
A July 2023 construction project filing for the Cosm Dallas location with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows the project was initially estimated to cost $42.5M. Sports business and financial newsletter Huddle Up reported the venues would cost between $80M and $90M to build.
Terry said the company doesn’t publicly disclose those costs, but noted they vary by market and some build times are longer than others.
“Right now we have a very economic model where our [profit and loss] supports the cost of the building, and we feel good about that,” he said.
The Cosm team prefers flexibility when it comes to leasing space versus owning it, Terry said, adding that decision depends on the developer they're working with. The TDLR filing notes the Dallas Cosm is privately funded, and the owner is listed as Cosm Head of Venue Development Robert McFarlane. In Atlanta, Cosm has signed a long-term lease on a 70K SF space with CIM Group.
Both existing Cosms and the third opening in Atlanta sit within emerging entertainment districts.
The 65K SF Cosm Los Angeles is set adjacent to SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome at Hollywood Park, while the similarly sized DFW location is part of the $1.5B Grandscape entertainment development in northern suburb The Colony. Atlanta’s Centennial Yards is an 8-acre mixed-use entertainment hub set between State Farm Arena, where the Atlanta Hawks play, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Falcons.
Barlage said Cosm is primed to “really create vibrancy” around such developments, something economic leaders in The Colony foresee for the Dallas location.
While Grandscape sees around 18 million visitors annually, The Colony Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Mariko Lanicek said Cosm could also be a significant driver of new patrons to the development.
“There are only two locations in the world … so we feel very fortunate knowing we're attracting visitors from all around the country who are seeking the unique experience Cosm offers,” Lanicek said via email. “This fits perfectly with the overall vision at Grandscape and The Colony, where ‘first-to-market’ and one-of-a-kind are the norm.”
Anchored and owned by Nebraska Furniture Mart, Grandscape does around $1B in sales annually. It’s too soon to gauge Cosm’s economic impact, but The Colony Executive Business Liaison Jeremie Maurina said the venue is shaping up to have a big lift on The Colony’s tax revenues.
“Some of their soccer stuff is already sold out for a month and a half,” Powell agreed. “I have a feeling that per SF, it's probably going to be one of the most significant economic drivers on the site.”
‘How Many Times Do You Go Back?’
Entertainment retail experts say the potential of Cosm as a real estate moneymaker is great, though an untested and expensive experiential retail venue comes with some risk.
The Cosm experience is “pretty amazing” for the sports junkie who doesn’t have access to courtside seats and wants a top-notch perch for a sporting event, said Jim Renne, JLL’s national director of sports and entertainment. But Renne wondered whether Cosm would be able to attract repeat users or non-sports fans.
“I look at this and I think it's really, really cool. It's immersive ... and the question is, how many times do you go back for that experience?” Renne said. “I don't know the answer to that.”
Murphy said she and her husband were already on the hunt for Dallas Cowboys tickets for an upcoming visit, but the next game had already sold out. Fellow first-time visitor Deron Davis said he would also return to Cosm, next time to catch a basketball game or a UFC fight.
“I love the ambiance of it,” Davis said.
To capture the same type of repeat visitors that sports teams and stadiums enjoy, Cosm must create a “fandom” around its experience, Renne said. Leadership will have to keep the concept fresh and develop consistent habits among its user base.
The price point for tickets could be an inhibiting factor in developing a stable of repeat customers, Renne said. Cheaper entry to the venue, which offers three experiences, might only rate a spot in the Hall, a sort of glorified sports bar with a 150-foot long band of screen wrapping the room, or on the Deck, a rooftop bar with mounted television sets. A reserved booth in the prime seating area known as the Dome could set customers back $400, SFGate reported.
Renne also said he had questions about the potential need for consistent future investments in technology to keep up with fast-changing advancements. To mitigate some of those costs, Renne often advises his clients to cut deals with sponsors to help pay for it or create an annual capital improvement budget.
Speaking generally, bringing in a large experiential retailer can be more than three times as expensive as a traditional retail tenant, though it varies by concept, said Colleen Baum, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. Landlords usually try to sign experiential tenants to longer-term leases given the additional capital invested in each location, she said.
When landlords are weighing the risks and rewards of signing experiential tenants, they want to see tenants with a well-defined vision, Baum said.
“In a lot of ways, you want to think about experiential retail as almost one step towards a tourist attraction,” Baum said. “You really want for people to go out of their way to come to this location, while also drafting off all the traffic that's in the surrounding area.”
Any question marks around Cosm’s long-term sustainability aren’t stopping developers from inquiring about adding locations to their projects, Renne said.
“I have clients that want two Cosms in their development. I have one that's like, ‘How do we do two Cosms?’” Renne said. “I think they're great attractors right now, and maybe they're the next shiny thing. I hope they have a great run.”
That run could prove fruitful for investors, Barlage said.
“We think in 10 years when people look back on what Cosm is, we think it's going to be an integral part of the sports entertainment experience in markets, and it's going to provide people an alternative that they've never seen before,” he said.
