Are we about to wave goodbye to live matches and say hello to all-virtual sporting entertainment?

According to Arc & Foundry’s director David Granger, the answer’s no, but interesting developments are being screened at a bar near you.  

Doing the rounds recently of social channels were the images of a bar in the US showing English Premier League football live.

The difference with the images coming from the Cosm in Los Angeles and your average sports bar was that these weren’t merely big tellys showing the game, the soccer spectators were given a taste of Old Trafford via a massive 9,600-square foot high-resolution screen. It wrapped around the fans and their loaded nachos recreating a corner of the stadium to give them the sensation of sitting in a stand in the northwest of England. Without the weather. 

And this difference in perspective is what grabbed most people’s attention. The size of the audio-visual meant that it really did look like an immersive experience to rival actually going to Manchester. The effect had more than a passing resemblance to the inside of the Las Vegas Sphere – a venue using advanced tech and wrap-around screens to provide a complete event.

The increase in this level of live-but-not-actually-there-in-person viewing is the result, obviously, of advances in technology like LED screens, surround sound and panoramic views. But the replication of a communal atmosphere which this brings also means there is, to a degree, a replication of the unique allure of live sport. And it’s a growing trend. In financial opportunities it’s good for both the remote venue which gains punters and money over the drinks bar and the rights-holders. It becomes more a franchising of the live event, rather than just a screening of Sky coverage in the saloon bar.

Where does this leave the traditional punter? The Newcastle United fan who has for the last 15 years travelled to Leicester mid-week to watch a sodden, sullen score draw? Why bother when there’s a corner of the King Power recreated on Tyneside which doesn’t cost a train journey or a half-day at work?

The benefits of being present are still in existence: the camaraderie of having made the journey, the atmosphere only an away end can generate, the raw energy of being *at* the match or the race. But we may see a shift away from every fan going to every game. A Gen Z/Alpha fanbase may actually appreciate the digital-driven space more, and the revenue model for leagues and rights-holders may move if venues become as good an experience as live. It will also have an adverse effect on cities and towns which rely on an influx of (thirsty) visitors every weekend. 

Several sports, especially ones in the US, have made inroads to create a hybrid model for fan engagement, using augmented and virtual reality at games to make it more appealing to fans – again, especially those in a younger demographic whose attention span may not (actually) be diminishing, but who need to get hooked on events early on.

While sitting, sipping something chilled in an immersive sports bar in sunny Cali may be appealing to fans who can’t make the trip to the Stretford End, if Covid lockdown (remember that?) taught us anything, it’s that it certainly is better to be at game rather than seeing it on a screen. Whatever the scale. You only have to look at the scenes coming out of South America where football matches become firework displays to know that’s an unbeatable, visceral experience. Then again, so is a soggy Silverstone Saturday morning before final F1 free practice, but for slightly damper reasons. The other restraint is that not every lower league English town is going to have a 112m high dome that can seat 18,600 people, and many (most?) fans will want to retain the experience of live sport. What is more likely is that digital experiential activity will complement, rather than replace the live arena.

The Cosm Man United screening is one option for ensuring more people experience watching more sport in real-time but will remain the exception rather than the rule. Although there may be some fans, United’s included, who’d rather not witness some games at all.