Ahmed Salem
With World Cup ticket prices soaring, football fans in Atlanta are turning to virtual reality for a stadium-like experience at a much lower cost.
Across the street from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Cosmo Fan Centre offers fans the chance to watch matches inside a huge, immersive dome built with virtual reality technology, recreating the feeling of being in the stands.
This venue has become a popular alternative for fans unable to get tickets to the tournament's biggest matches.
One of the girls who had the opportunity to watch a World Cup match via virtual reality said: "If I had planned to attend the match in advance, I would have. Obviously, this is a new experience for me at the stadium. But this place is also great; it's not too hot, it's air-conditioned.".
She adds: This is an excellent price to attend a match in a stadium, because the price of semi-final tickets is currently very expensive, around $15,000 per person, and that is an amount I cannot afford.
Enjoy watching at a lower price
She continues: While entry to the stadium starts at just over ten dollars, premium seats inside the immersive dome cost far less than the thousands of dollars fans pay for World Cup semi-final tickets.
She explains: Using specialized cameras positioned inside the stadium, the company recreates a 360-degree live broadcast, giving viewers the feeling of sitting in some of the best seats in the stadium.
Jeff Hughes, head of sports entertainment at Cosmos, which offered fans this experience, said: “We are just across the street from one of the stadiums where some of the matches are being played. Tickets for almost all the World Cup matches are sold out.”.
He adds: ”When this event is over, we will have produced and shown 40 World Cup matches in our indoor arenas, and that’s fantastic.”
As demand for World Cup tickets continues to exceed supply, immersive viewing technology is emerging as a new way for fans to experience the biggest football event, without having to enter the stadium.
