72 hours in Los Angeles showed how $2bn LA28 arena and ‘Shared Reality’ venue are future of live sports

Almost everything is bigger and better in America, including its tech-driven stadiums and massive sports venues.

Yet nowhere is this more evident than in Los Angeles, California, which is rapidly emerging as a global epicentre where sport, technology and entertainment coalesce.

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Ahead of the city hosting a decade-defining sporting trifecta, across a three year period – the 2026 World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl, and the 2028 Olympic Games – talkSPORT spent 72 hours in LA, courtesy of British Airways Holidays and Los Angeles Tourism,

In recent years, Los Angeles has doubled down on sports, building and reimagining a new generation of cutting-edge venues to transform live sporting action into a fully sensory experience.

I was fortunate enough to visit both Intuit Dome and Cosm on my trip, both of which sit within the same sports and entertainment district in Hollywood Park, Inglewood.

There, I saw firsthand how Los Angeles is redefining the future of live sports viewing.

Intuit Dome

First on our agenda was the state-of-the-art Intuit Dome, which we rocked up to on a gloriously bright California day.

The $2 billion home of the NBA‘s Los Angeles Clippers is built primarily for basketball, and will host five-on-five men and women’s basketball competitions during the LA28 Olympic Games.

It’s located approximately three miles from Los Angeles Airport (LAX) and sits directly under the flight path for arriving planes, which makes for an idyllic travel snap on a perfectly sunny day.

The first thing that hit me about Intuit Dome was the sheer size of it. It’s more spaceship than stadium, and its diamond-patterned grey skin, complete with a massive red steel frame (apparently designed to look like a basketball net) is a pretty awe-inspiring feat of engineering.

The 18,000-seat arena is the brainchild of Clippers’ owner Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, and strangely enough Intuit Dome looks a bit like a piece of Microsoft hardware.

We’re shown around an 80,000-square foot outdoor plaza, which includes a full-sized, regulation basketball court with a large media screen that fans can play on before games, a concert stage, a practice basketball court, as well as over 48,000-square feet dedicated to retail and dining.

talkSPORT

talkSPORT

I’m told the Lexus Courtside Lounge, a high-end hospitality experience for pre and post-game food and drink, is a particular fan favourite.

Our tour includes a walk around the open-air, upper concourse, perfect for topping up the tan and taking in the stunning views of Los Angeles and SoFi Stadium (home of the NFL‘s Rams and Chargers), which is located just two miles away.

Pretty early on I get the sense that Intuit Dome’s main mission is to elevate the fan experience. Everywhere you turn the stadium is pushing the technological boundaries in order to improve its game day experience.

Gone are the days of physical tickets. Entry is biometric, provided through the use of facial recognition technology, known as Game Face ID (this feature is optional and not mandatory), which creates the ultimate ‘frictionless’ fan experience.

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All concessions are ‘grab-and-go’, which basically means you walk in, grab whatever you want, and leave without ever having to remove your phone or wallet.

And Intuit Dome isn’t exactly short of concessions to chose from. There are 21 marketplaces to eat at in total and all food is made fresh in-house.

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Wandering around the various outer levels, adorned with over 1,550 high school jerseys from across California in homage to the local community, fans can find all sorts of crowd-pleasing culinary delights, including sushi, hot dogs, burgers, beers and cocktails.

Eventually we make our way into the arena itself. Immediately we’re struck by the panoramic view of the Clippers’ beautiful home court as well as the unmissable Halo Board.

The Halo Board is the mother of all jumbotrons, a 38,375 square foot halo-shaped LED scoreboard that hangs high above the court, designed to elevate in-game storytelling with 360-degree visuals.

Even the seats are interactive, equipped with LED lights and game controller-like armrest buttons so fans can participate in stadium-wide games, competitions, and light shows. They even use sensors to track sitting time and scream volume for fan rewards via the Intuit Dome app.

It’s a remarkable blend of innovation and cutting-edge technology that makes for a truly unique and immersive experience.

Later, we’re taken down to court level to explore the very hardwood NBA superstars like Kawhi Leonard — the face of the Clippers organization — regularly play on.

We wander around, take photos on the Clippers’ logo at half-court, and I stare up at one of the baskets from the free-throw line wandering how Michael Jordan was ever able to dunk from there.

Seriously, the basket looks twice as high as it does on TV.

talkSPORT

talkSPORT

talkSPORT

Our guide explains that behind one of the baskets is The Wall, an unusually steep section with 51 rows of 4,500 seats designed to bring playoff noise and energy to every home game and where opposing gear is banned and cheering is mandatory.

Our tour ends with a look at all the various music artists — Bruno Mars, Billy Joel, Olivia Rodrigo — who have performed at Intuit Dome since its inception, and it’s hard not to come away feeling incredibly impressed.

Intuit Dome was named to TIME World’s Greatest Places in 2025 and, after visiting for a brief afternoon, it’s pretty obvious why.

It’s undoubtedly on a fast-track to becoming the modern ‘Mecca’ of basketball, and an absolute must for any hoops fan seeking the best game day experience money can buy.

Roll on LA28.

Cosm

Still reeling from all that Intuit Dome had to offer, we saunter over to Cosm, which is less than an eight-minute walk away.

This was a bit of a wildcard; I’d heard great things about Cosm but still didn’t really understand what it was.

For those that don’t know, Cosm is a state-of-the-art ‘Shared Reality’ entertainment venue that features an immersive 87-foot diameter, 8K+ LED dome screen.

The word Cosm apparently comes from a blend of ‘cosmos’ and ‘colosseum’, which speaks to the planetarium-inspired nature of the venue.

Cosm offers an immersive, ‘front-row” experience for live sports, including NBA, NHL, WWE, MLB and UFC. However, there’s no official confirmation yet as to whether it will show World Cup matches this summer, although an announcement is expected soon.

talkSPORT

talkSPORT

Cosm also offers a cinema-style viewing lounge with tiered seating, full-service bars, a restaurant, and a rooftop terrace with stunning views of Inglewood — which we enjoyed a round of beers on.

Essentially, being inside it is like being at a game, without actually being at a game. Think of Cosm like virtual reality, only without those annoying goggles and an impending sense that you’re going to fall over.

For a fraction of the cost of an actual ticket to a game (tickets for an upcoming NBA playoff game at Cosm in LA start at a very affordable $29 [£21]), fans are able to feel as though they’re courtside, pitchside, or even floating above the action of their favourite team.

We’re there to watch a regular season NBA game between the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, which is actually taking place over 2,000 km away in Houston, Texas — not that you’d know it from inside the venue.

In fact, thanks to Cosm’s incredible range of exclusive camera angles, I dare say I had a better view than most people in attendance at the actual game.

We settle in to the plush seats, order food — pizzas, nachos, wings, all that good stuff — to where we’re sat thanks to the in-house app, and I send a few friends and family videos of the giant screen in front of me.

‘Woah, you’re at the game?’ most of them respond.

My mind’s too blown to go back and provide a coherent explanation.

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We soak up the surprisingly lively atmosphere and watch Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves stage a thrilling 136-132 come-from-behind victory before swiftly leaving.

It’d be pretty easy to dismiss Cosm’s technology as a novelty, but it’s hard to deny the minds behind it have hit upon something genius.

Cosm’s super-immersive environment has all the benefits of going to a real game with real people (the courtside views, the comfy seats, the delicious food and drink), without any of the faff of going to an actual stadium.

I’m not saying it’s better than going to a live game, but it’s incredibly close. Factor in the cost and convenience, and Cosm is clearly the next best thing for any fan planning to descend on LA over the next three years.

Ultimately, I left with the overwhelming feeling that I’ve just witnessed the future of watching live sports. To be honest, I haven’t stopped telling people about it since I came back.

If you want to understand where live sport is heading, don’t wait for it to come to you — take my advice and go to Los Angeles and see it for yourself.