PBR is coming to Cosm, and all that appears to be missing for those who will watch bull riding in an immersive wraparound theater is getting sprayed with dirt.
If ever a sport were tailor made for a giant experiential theater putting fans in the middle of the action on concave three-story screens, it’s the wildest eight seconds in sports where the magnificent bulls born to buck call the shots and everyone else is just along for the rollercoaster ride.
At Cosm, the unpredictable mayhem of PBR will be even more immense and intense.
Cosm will first bring their 8K cameras to the final day of the PBR Teams neutral site event in Duluth, Georgia on July 27 for their cutting-edge venues in Dallas (Grandscape) and Los Angeles (Hollywood Park). Following Duluth, three PBR Camping World Team Series homestands will be showcased: Freedom Days in Sunrise, FL (August 10), Stampede Days in Nashville, TN (August 17) and Gambler Days in Austin, TX (August 24).
Utilizing its innovative camera and production technology to capture and feed live content back to its 87-foot-diameter 12K+ LED domes, Cosm will provide fans with never-before accessed vantage points, moving them closer to the most thrilling and unpredictable 8 seconds in sports than ever before.
“Until now you’d have to be a rider, a bull, a bull fighter, or the entertainer to get this close to the action,” added Sean Gleason, CEO and Commissioner at PBR. “Every sports fan will want to experience the speed, power and incredible athleticism of our bulls and bull riders in Cosm’s unparalleled presentation.”
Cosm – whose name evokes images of the cosmos beyond and a coliseum holding a competitive sporting event – opened its first venue in Los Angeles at Hollywood Park, adjacent to SoFi Stadium, in July 2024. The second venue bowed in Dallas at The Colony’s Grandscape in August 2024. The company recently began construction on a venue in downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Yards and in downtown Detroit. Both are expected to open in 2026.
The company’s mission, according to Peter Murphy, Senior Vice President of Media and Content, “is to transport guests to places that they’ve never been able to access before, and in this case, a space that has traditionally been off limits except to elite athletes.”
Adding to the Western sports experience, Cosm will bring in barbequed food, beer and whisky tastings, and mechanical bulls.
But it’s the real bulls – 1,800-pound beasts jumping five or six feet in the air – who are likely to be the big stars emerging.
“Cosm gives a visceral intimacy that’s never been available to fans,” said Josh Baker, Chief Revenue Officer, PBR. “This perspective will be better than in the venue. You can’t be on the dirt. Until now.”
PBR’s new relationship with Cosm is another example of the sport benefitting from being part of TKO Group Holdings.
Cosm has active content licensing deals with PBR’s TKO sister companies UFC and WWE, the latter of whose co-Head of Revenue Alex Varga helped facilitate the PBR deal, as reported in Sports Business Journal.
“With the success that we’ve seen with UFC and WWE, they have been tremendous partners,” Cosm SVP/Content & Media Peter Murphy told SBJ. “We know PBR will be much of the same. It should be exciting.”
Exciting is an understatement for the ages.
Fans watching bull riding games at Cosm are advised to wear tight socks. They’re gonna be blown off.