Top 10 Facts about the Sphere in Las Vegas

With a name like Sphere, only one thing comes to mind - a really, really big sphere. Luckily, the building delivers on that promise. Holding 18,600 seats and 875,000 square feet of space, this is currently the largest spherical building in the world. It took the mantle from Stockholm’s Avicii Arena, which held the record since 1989. Naturally, constructing such a large building requires some serious effort. And that’s where the fourth-largest crane in the world came into play. Transported from Belgium, the Demag crane stands 580 feet tall and took eighteen days to build.

The Sphere officially opened on September 29, 2023. But that was not the original plan. Sphere was supposed to open its doors two years earlier in 2021 but was delayed owing to the COVID pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues. And it came at the worst possible time, as well. The aforementioned crane arrived in February 2020, and by March it was in the midst of building the widest point of the Sphere. MSG Company, the contractor behind the Sphere, announced on March 31 that construction would be delayed. The following August they revealed that the Sphere’s opening would be held back by two years.

A big building needed to make a big splash and prove that it was the entertainment venue of the world. Enter the legendary U2, who inaugurated the Vegas landmark with their concert residency “Achtung Baby Live at Sphere”. As the name suggests, the concert sees the band performing the entirety of “Achtung Baby” alongside their big hits like “With or Without You” and “Beautiful Day”. The residency lasts from September to December of 2023 and consists of 25 concerts. The show received wide critical acclaim, with journalists highlighting the performance of U2 and their dazzling integration of the venue’s state-of-the-art technology.

The Sphere was originally a joint undertaking between the Madison Square Garden Company and Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The latter provided the physical space for the building, carving out eighteen acres of land. Sands owned the Venetian until 2022, and by extension, the Venetian Expo convention center. Sands placed the Sphere just east of the Venetian Expo and connected the two with a 1,000 foot long pedestrian bridge. By extension, one could argue that the Sphere is now part of the Venetian resort complex. It’s certainly within walking distance!

If there’s one man we have to thank for the Sphere, it’s James L. Dolan. Dolan is a highly successful businessman who runs Madison Square Garden Entertainment, the general contractor responsible for bringing Sphere to life. By extension, Dolan also runs various New York sports teams, including the Knicks and Rangers. Dolan has since expanded his reach and currently serves as the Executive Chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment Co., the co-owner of the venue. According to Sphere’s website, Dolan is “the visionary behind Sphere” and is responsible for the building’s “overall vision and growth strategy.”

While the Sphere is currently a Las Vegas exclusive, that won’t be the case for long. The Madison Square Garden Company has announced plans to build various Spheres around the world, and there are current plans to build an identical Sphere in London. The venue is still in its planning stages and is expected to be placed in the east London area of Stratford. The London Legacy Development Corporation approved planning for the building in March 2022, and it is now awaiting legal approval and a review by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. However, the venue has faced some opposition, particularly from locals who argue that the land should be used for housing.

If U2 isn’t your thing, may we suggest a movie from Darren Aronofsky? If the name doesn’t sound familiar, this is the Oscar-nominated director behind movies like “Black Swan,” “Mother!,” and “The Whale.” Aronofsky made a movie exclusive to Sphere titled “Postcard from Earth,” a 50 minute nature short about two astronauts. The film premiered at the Sphere on October 6, 2023 and promises to be an immersive experience unlike any other, complete with 4D technology and a crystal clear screen measuring nearly 400 feet. Move aside, IMAX - Sphere is here.

Sphere is a dream come true for video nerds, and many will undoubtedly make the trip to Vegas to see it first hand. Visitors are wowed without even entering the venue, as the exterior consists of a massive LED display that outshines even the brightest lights of Vegas. Inside hosts the largest LED screen in the world, a wraparound display measuring 160,000 square feet. And wouldn’t you know it, this giant wraparound screen carries the highest resolution in the world, displaying a startlingly clear and beautiful 16K image. If this is the future of movie theaters, then we are absolutely here for it. It won’t be, but hey, one can certainly dream.

It’s not just the video nerds who will have a field day with Sphere - the audio enthusiasts have something to admire as well. The LED panels cover 1,600 X1 speakers, and audio can also be broadcast through the floor. All told, the venue boasts 167,000 speaker drivers and utilizes fancy-sounding technologies like “beamforming” and “wave field synthesis.” If you don’t know what that means, that’s OK - basically it just means that Sphere sounds really, really, really good. The venue’s sound received unanimous praise in the U2 concert reviews, with Neil McCormick of the Telegraph calling it “the best sound you have ever heard.”

As you can probably imagine, constructing the world’s largest spherical structure and filling it with state-of-the-art video and audio capabilities doesn’t come cheap. The building was originally supposed to cost “just” $1.2 billion, but the price massively ballooned thanks to rapid inflation and supply chain issues. By the time construction was done, Sphere had cost developers $2.3 billion - over $1 billion more than they had expected! This makes it the most expensive venue in the history of Vegas, beating the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium by almost half a billion dollars.

Have you been to the Sphere yet? Let us know how it was in the comments below!