Las Vegas Sands and Madison Square Garden Co., have taken the wraps off the massive concert and sports arena they plan to build on the Las Vegas Strip.
MSG Sphere Las Vegas, trumpeted at a February 8 unveiling at Radio City Music Hall as the next generation in large-scale immersive entertainment, will be located on land owned by LVS on Sands Avenue between Koval Lane and Manhattan Street and connected to the gaming giant’s Venetian and Palazzo resorts via the company’s Sands Expo & Convention Center and an outdoor pedestrian bridge.
Construction is slated to begin later this year with an opening possible late in 2020.
No price tag has been disclosed as yet, nor how the partners plan to finance it, although MSG has said it is planning a similar venue in London.
The design calls for a 400,000-square-foot facility configurable for seating up to 18,000 people within a dome-like structure 500 feet across at its widest point and more than 360 feet high. More than 1,000 miles of fiber-optic and copper cable will snake through the structure, which will feature programmable digital displays inside and out, a state-of-the-art sound system and a special spherical camera system developed by MSG for capturing, curating and distributing original content.
Jim Dolan, MSG’s executive chairman and CEO, said the facility “will engage an audience to experience a performance on a level that will draw them in and feel the beauty as never before; a platform that will immerse the audience in a story, enabling them to experience it as if they were really there; a platform used to elevate the audience’s understanding of science so they are able to join in the exploration; and a platform that will enable industry to explain products that will generate market enthusiasm and push that vision in educating the consumer.”
George Markantonis, president of the Venetian and Palazzo, who led a team of Sands executives to New York for the unveiling, called it “the metamorphosis of arena and concert entertainment as we know it today”.
“I am just so excited that the city of Las Vegas, and the Venetian in particular, will be the home of the first MSG Sphere on the planet,” he said. “Another amazing must-see in the city that has everything.”
Though designed specifically for music and entertainment performances, it’s expected that boxing, mixed martial arts, e-sports competitions and conventions and trade show all will be part of the MSG Sphere mix.
“We will host concerts, residencies and awards shows, corporate events/product launches and a wide range of other entertainment events, including next-generation events for audiences who want to be more connected, and even participate, in the event experience, such as mass gaming,” said Kimberly Kerns, senior vice president of communications for Madison Square Garden.
