
SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive Experience for Daytona, The PLAYERS, and March Madness Immersive lens and spatial audio are new technology being developed By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 2:58 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The world of immersive entertainment is evolving rapidly, and Cosm is at the forefront of redefining how fans experience live sports via its Shared Reality venues in L.A. and Dallas featuring immersive an 87-foot diameter LED dome and 150-foot-wide LED display. From courtside seats at the NBA Finals and World Series to front-row views of the UFC and Super Bowl LIX, Cosm pushes the boundaries of what it means to be there without physically being there. Now the company is taking on a variety of new challenges, including NASCAR's Daytona 500 last month, the PGA TOUR's PLAYERS Championship this week, and the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments beginning next week.
SVG sat down the Devin Poolman, chief product and technology officer, Cosm, to explore how Cosm approached its first NASCAR event at Daytona, its expansion into golf at THE PLAYERS Championship, the company's ambitious plans for March Madness, and how its proprietary technology is shaping the future of sports viewing both inside and outside its venues. From custom-built immersive lenses to innovative audio-capture techniques, Poolman discusses how the company's technology not only serves the Cosm experience but also benefits leagues and broadcasters.
Cosm's Devin Poolman: We look at everything we're doing right now as Phase 1, and we're excited to build up [our portfolio of] events.
Let's start with Daytona. Obviously, motorsports and larger speedways are very different from many of the sports Cosm has covered thus far. Why did it make sense to deliver NASCAR in the Cosm experience?
It's a less obvious fit [for the Cosm experience], for sure, but there are huge opportunities with [NASCAR] as well. [For] events that are more intimate, Cosm experience can bring a level of visceral reality: UFC is a great example; you are truly in the midst of it. Other [events] bring you the grandeur of the live environment or iconic destination: Daytona is very much that.
The same goes for NFL stadiums or the World Series at Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium. Those are less obviously made for immersive capture in that you think you want to be close. But the other part of immersive capture is, you want a sense of place; you want to feel like you're there. Those factors - being up close and having a sense of place - can play together and make an event great.
I thought Daytona was incredible because you felt like you were in the grandstand. Our team captured the essence of that event and gave you that feeling like you're incredibly, even uncomfortably close to the action while still giving you the excitement of being in the grandstand.
How did your production strategy change in covering Daytona compared with stick-and-ball sports?
I think the biggest difference was that Daytona gave us an opportunity to push the boundaries in terms of audio. I always say that we're still in the early days of finding ways to drive the experience forward. [With] Daytona, we wanted to capture not just the visuals of being on the turn but the thrill of that audio as well.
The Cosm experience gave fans feeling of being in grandstand at the Daytona 500.
In a typical production, we're relying on the broadcaster to provide a great 5.1 audio mix. But we knew that, for the NASCAR experience, just having the announcers and the program audio coming in from the broadcaster - FOX, in this case - wouldn't be enough to capture the experience of sitting on that turn watching cars flying by. Especially, if FOX is covering pit lane and you're supposed to be sitting on turn watching these cars fly by 200 mph, there's going to be a total disconnect if you don't have the sound of the cars.
Our team worked hand in hand with FOX to pull all their unique audio stems and create a per-camera mix of audio, so we could cut around the track, covering a few corners as well as that high wide shot.
We did a custom immersive-audio mix on a per-camera basis and brought that into the Cosm experience. The sound was amazing, but it was the first time we were trying that on the ground so we were building the plane as we were flying. Thankfully, we have an awesome team, and they did a great job. After the first few laps, the audio was great.
What was the camera-coverage plan for Daytona?
For Daytona, we used a single capture system, typically four or five cameras and an onsite crew. Daytona was three shots on the corner and a high wide, as well as a secondary high wide, and we had audio stems for each of those positions. We're looking forward to doing more NASCAR in the future.
You're starting another chapter again this week with golf at THE PLAYERS Championship. How are you bringing a sprawling golf course to the Cosm immersive experience?
This will be our first golf tournament, and golf presents a unique challenge because, unlike with most of the events we cover (even a big racetrack like Daytona), there isn't one place where all the action is taking place. Instead of one vantage point, there are 18 or more events going on at once. It's up to us to find the best way to capture the action.
We're going to try to give the fans the best of both worlds, similar to the old days of going to the baseball game and bringing a handheld radio so you could be there in person but also follow the storyline of the broadcaster. That's going to be the focus for golf.
Just like going to the tournament [in person], you're going to pick your hole. The good news is,
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...
28/09/2026
MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...
28/09/2026
ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...
28/09/2026
Net Insight has added the Nimbra 1020G to its pan-Asian live media trial network, giving customers and partners in the region a way to evaluate ST 2110 and JPEG...
28/09/2026
Vindral has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of We...
28/09/2026
Interra Systems will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (Stand B2-37, Dubai Exhibition Centre, October 5-7), demonstrating its BATON QC platform, ORION monitoring solutions...
28/09/2026
Two years into its new production facility, the TOUR is expanding centralized wo...