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.
Maybe more than any other city in the United States, Los Angeles is a monument to American scale, dotted with outsized landmarks: the famed hillside Hollywood sign, a spaceship-sized football stadium and a host of other monuments to outsized kitsch.
Cosm Los Angeles, then, fits right in. It is ostensibly a sports bar but feels a bit more like a theme park, featuring an 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.
Just hours after I finished covering Major League Soccer’s championship match elsewhere in the city on Saturday night — among the most authentic footballing experiences you can have in the United States — I hopped in my car at 5am to watch Fulham take on Arsenal from 5,000 miles (nearly 9,000km) away in Cosm. I nursed my hangover with a $15 (almost £12) bloody mary and a $17 slice of avocado toast, alongside Americans who’ve shunned MLS in favour of the real version of the sport, as they sometimes say.
Clips taken inside Cosm have gone a bit viral on social media and the surrounding narrative is that it’s the closest you can get to a true matchday experience without the trouble of attending the match itself. In America, it’s an easy sell to Premier League supporters, many of whom rarely, if ever get a chance to visit their chosen club’s home ground.
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.
Fans walk from Putney Bridge station to Fulham’s ground (Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)
As throngs of fans make their way over the River Thames, via Putney Bridge itself, and towards Craven Cottage there is one man going against the crowd, awkwardly carrying a Christmas tree. In Bishops Park, the green railings that overlook the fast-moving river guide us towards the stadium.
Among those making that muddy walk are Charles Singer and his daughter Kirsty. The 72-year-old Scotsman is an Arsenal fan but became a member at Fulham after finding it difficult to get tickets to Arsenal games at the Emirates Stadium. They will be sitting in the new Riverside Stand — which incredibly includes a sky deck, rooftop terrace and a swimming pool. “I hope Emile Smith Rowe (formerly of Arsenal) scores for Fulham today but my heart wants an Arsenal win as much as I love watching Fulham,” says Charles, who has made the 93-mile (150km) journey from Bath, in the west of England.
Craven Cottage is a sight to behold. It is (parts of it anyway) the oldest football stadium in London and also one of the most aesthetically pleasing. The Johnny Haynes Stand — which is cornered by the actual cottage to which the ground bears its name — has slim turnstile entrances built into the surrounding brickwork. With 15 minutes until kick-off, fans bundled up against the winter weather are queuing up to squeeze through these slight openings in a wall which bears classic Fulham crests.
“Everyone knows Pam Wilson,” one Fulham fan says as he buys a matchday programme.
Pam, another Scot, has been selling programmes from the same spot on Stevenage Road for 26 years. The Athletic finds her as she is giving dog treats to a ginger labrador. “I bring treats for the dogs and sweets for the kids. You have to give back to the community,” the 51-year-old says. “I have loved Fulham ever since I first came here in 1997.
“I sell programmes outside Stamford Bridge before Chelsea games too (the two stadiums are only a couple of miles apart in west London) but I’m Fulham 100 per cent. I get regular customers who have been buying programmes from me for years. People are superstitious. When they buy a programme here and Fulham don’t win I get moaned at, but then if I’m not here one week they moan and groan. I love the banter.”
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 Cosm space is split into three levels and my ticket has placed me on the second one, just to the left of the centerline.
The place is far from full, this is a 6am local time start on a Sunday, but there are still quite a few fans in attendance, and most of them are supporting Arsenal. Fulham, though, have always had a special place in the hearts of the American soccer fan, from the days of Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey to Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson and owner Shahid Khan more recently, and today, the Los Angeles chapter of their American fan club is in attendance. All six or so of them.
When Raul Jimenez gets the opener for Fulham about 10 minutes in, they explode, drawing groans from the Arsenal fans in attendance.
The scale of the screen at Cosm is incredible (Pablo Maurer/The Athletic)
“Atmosphere is atmosphere,” says Todd Petty, who sits alongside his father Mark, also a Fulham supporter. They have been to Craven Cottage many times. “If we were sitting in the Putney End or the Hammersmith End or the Riverside, it would be different. But for us to be sitting here in the crowd, and to hear the chants and the cheering, to join in, it does give you a bit of that experience.”
Moments later, that tiny bit of magic disappears when an issue with the feed from across the Atlantic causes the picture to drop out completely for about five minutes. It’s a bit of a reality check.
After managing to get into the ground with two minutes to spare before kick-off, we’re hearing referee Chris Kavanagh being called “useless” by one Fulham fan within a minute of the opening whistle being blown. The stand we’re in is old and the view, despite our ticket costing £81 ($103), is so restricted I have to watch the action through and around a metal pillar when Arsenal are on the attack, which is for the majority of the first half — until I move into an empty seat further along the row.
When Mexico international Jimenez scores with Fulham’s first shot from their initial attack, his country’s flag is unfurled by fans in the Riverside Stand behind the two dugouts. A little boy in a Fulham shirt jumps into his mother’s arms to celebrate as Jimenez dances in front of the Arsenal fans — much to their frustration.
Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka is jeered and told to “f*** off” when he volleys a shot into the Hammersmith End as rain swirls into all four stands.
The visitors from across London remain 1-0 down as their fans in the away end chant, “You only came to see the Arsenal play.” One Fulham supporter enjoys (even if the Arsenal contingent can’t directly hear him) pointing out, “We came to see Fulham!” When Smith Rowe takes a heavy touch, he is reminded by another in the home crowd that he doesn’t play for Arsenal anymore — as though he has somehow forgotten.
The service at Cosm was great, albeit a little slow. The staff were friendly and attentive, in keeping with the luxury experience the place is seeking to provide. Top-level pro sports in the United States long ago became a product for the wealthy, and Cosm fits that mold quite well.
To the general public, my seat on level two of the place would cost nearly $90 (£70), about twice what you’d pay for a cheap ticket to an LAFC match in MLS at their stadium down the street. Cheaper options are available if you’re willing to stand or mill about the overflow areas.
I have a coffee, a bloody mary and a piece of avocado toast. The food and drink, frankly, were excellent but again, the items would set me back nearly $40. I cannot think of a single sports team I would pay a combined $150 (£117) to support in a single regular-season game, even in person, though maybe that’s just a personal problem.
As halftime approaches, I stroll outside, to the venue’s deck, which provides an absolutely, positively spectacular view of the surrounding hills. Cosm overlooks SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, and the streets below are already dotted with Rams fans who’ve queued up for their game against the Buffalo Bills, which kicks off in five or six hours.
The dude next to me takes a hit off of a weed pen. It’s a little early for that, in my view, but Arsenal have indeed been tough to watch today.
On 43 minutes, some fans head to the concourse to beat the half-time rush for £7.20 ($9) pints and £7 ($8.92) chicken and sage pies.
When the rest of us head down into the cramped space beneath the old wooden seats shortly afterwards, it takes the majority of the 15-minute break to get served. Most opt for pre-poured pints of Camden Hells lager. Others munch £9.50 ($12) jumbo hot dogs. Back-to-back hot chocolate orders mean one server disappears to the end of the bar for long waits at the hot water station. There are also a lot of requests for Bovril, a beef-flavoured drink that’s a staple of English football winters, to tend to.
Fans queue for food and drink at half-time at Craven Cottage (Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)
Those in the seats closest to the pitch are paying for it today with damp coats and jackets. The head steward hands plastic rain ponchos to those colleagues whose stations mean they are not under shelter. Being closer to the pitch does mean you can more crisply hear the ball being kicked and see small clumps of turf stick up into the air as Martin Odegaard sprays a pass through the rain.
Technical problems plague the feed again in the second half at Cosm, leading the small crop of Fulham supporters to break into a “What’s the WiFi password?” chant, drawing laughter and groans from the Arsenal fans in attendance.
When the feed works, it is truly spectacular.
For years, I’ve watched matches from the press box, and I’ve always appreciated the high angle from there, the way it allows you to see the match holistically. Oftentimes your eyes will wander and you’ll see plays develop off the ball, something so frequently lacking from the broadcast feed. At Cosm, other curious bits add to the viewing experience: fans who appear on the screen are larger than life and you can sometimes see them using their phone or chatting with each other.
The feed from Craven Cottage goes down at Cosm (Pablo Maurer/The Athletic)
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. Arsenal score their second goal (later disallowed) on a corner kick, and my view of the action could not have been closer:
I’m at @CosmLosAngeles, which is completely insane. pic.twitter.com/IO8cwuHt5t
— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) December 8, 2024
There is a lot more rain and plenty more expletives in the second half from the home fans — especially after William Saliba levels the scores. Arsenal midfielder Jorginho’s shouts of “Stay there” to forward Gabriel Martinelli are audible from across the ground. His advice works, seemingly, as Martinelli cuts in from the right to provide the cross for Saka’s would-be winning goal, though it turns out the Brazilian was offside in the build-up.
Before they knew that, the Arsenal fans wildly celebrated. Some even used the rain-soaked plastic partition that kept them separated from the Fulham fans in the Putney End as a water slide to get closer to the pitch. Saka was mobbed by his team-mates. Some Fulham fans couldn’t sit through the pain of it and got up to leave.
When the video assistant referee reviewed the goal and chalked it off, some of them — but not all — returned to their seats to watch the final few minutes of the game.
A restricted view at Craven Cottage (Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)
The Arsenal supporters tried to put the disappointment behind them as their team put together some late attacks but it was the Fulham ones who banged their feet to create a rumbling sound as the visitors’ Declan Rice stood over a free kick on the left side of the pitch. They seemed pleased with themselves when the ball curled into the away end behind the goal and Rice covered his face with his hands.
Cosm, quite simply, isn’t much like being at a sporting event in person. The people who run the place, though, will often tell you that it isn’t supposed to be. It is something else entirely, feeling a bit more like a 3D movie than going to a game. Elements of the matchday experience are there, of course — the supporters, the food and drink, all that — but at the end of the day it’s still a very sterile environment, not quite as, um, seasoned as the surroundings at Craven Cottage.
Still, if you’re the type of person who likes lighting money on fire, it’s worth checking out. The technology is undeniably crazy and is absolutely Cosm’s selling point.
In the end, it feels a lot less like Anfield, Old Trafford or any other stadium and more like something plucked out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’ll stick to attending matches in person when I can.
Heading back through Bishops Park, the mud is even worse than it was pre-match as fans disperse in the direction of Putney Bridge and the station it gives its name to. Drizzly rain is ever-present as both sets of supporters rejoice and lament. Groups of Arsenal fans argue among themselves about whether or not they are in or out of the title race after failing to win today.
The sellers of half-and-half scarves have an urgency in their voice knowing the time to shift remaining Fulham vs Arsenal merchandise is fleeting.
Those same Arsenal fans head to The Eight Bells to continue their debrief. Fulham fans heading onto the Tube with mud-covered shoes seem pretty happy with the point.
(Top photos: Craven Cottage’s restricted views and Cosm Los Angeles: Caoimhe O’Neill and Pablo Maurer/The Athletic)