Dolan’s Sphere the Latest to Light Up the Vegas Strip

As Las Vegas goes about transforming itself into a global sports capital, there is perhaps something weirdly atavistic about the Strip’s latest synapse-frying attraction.

MSG Sphere, the $2.3 billion entertainment Death Star built by the owners of New York’s Knicks and Rangers, wasn’t designed to serve as a live sports destination; in that respect, visitors to the 360-foot tall orb are more likely to be fans of Duran Duran than Kevin Durant, and would probably rank Lynyrd Skynyrd over Kawhi Leonard.

It’s understandable that some might expect Sphere to serve as home court for an NBA expansion team—in an interview on TNT ahead of the NBA Finals last month, commissioner Adam Silver said such a move “makes sense over time,” before adding that the league must first see to the more immediate business of hashing out its next round of media rights deals. However, the interior dimensions of the building would seem to eliminate that possibility. Entertainment is Sphere’s primary function, a notion which became evident on Independence Day, when America got its first look at the project’s 580,000-square foot LED exoskeleton.

While Sphere’s abstract displays should prove to be a source of endless fascination for Clark County’s stoner community, the hyper-realistic variations are where the concept excels. When in full, luminous lunar mode, the visual effects are so convincing that it’s a wonder the structure doesn’t interfere with the tides in Malibu. Anything globoid is a candidate for the Sphere treatment; on Thursday night a scale model of the earth gave way to an exophthalmic eyeball (imagine a 30,000-foot Marty Feldman and you’re halfway there) before transforming into a colossal basketball heralding the start of the NBA’s Summer League.

Sphere won’t officially open its doors until Sept. 29, when U2 kicks off its 25-night residency. After the Irishmen close out their takeover on Dec. 16, it’s anyone’s guess as to who’ll headline there next—although it’s safe to say that amplified music will be on the menu. As frontman Bono observed in an April walkthrough with Apple Music, the 18,600-seat Sphere “was built for immersive experiences in cinema and performance … you can’t come here and see an ice hockey game.”

Of course, Vegas is no stranger to pugilism—among the town’s most memorable fights are the 1981 Leonard vs. Hearns battle and the Hagler vs. Hearns duel four years later—and with UFC headquarters just a 20-minute drive away, it’s hard to imagine that Sphere won’t play host to the occasional bout. At the very least, there’s probably a case to be made for the orb to accommodate some sort of multi-day esports event, which just in terms of sheer taxonomy would allow Sphere to maintain its no-sports stance. (A hot dog is a sandwich, but playing videogames is not a sport, even when tens of millions of dollars are at stake.)

In the meantime, New Yorkers are encouraged to continue to grouse about the state of their Knicks and Rangers, which seems especially apposite given the amount of cash James Dolan’s MSG Entertainment has shelled out for the sparkly round building in the desert. In May 2019, the company’s preliminary estimate for construction of the Sphere was approximately $1.2 billion, a price that ballooned as the pandemic had its way with labor and materials costs. In February 2020, MSGE upped its initial projection to $1.66 billion; a year later, a third revision landed on $1.87 billion. In a May 10, 2023, filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, Dolan’s company arrived at the current $2.3 billion figure.

While the Dolan family’s finances are spread among so many ever-mutating holding companies that it’s not always easy to figure out which leg of the octopus is feeding which mouth, that shouldn’t prevent Big Apple sports fans from grousing about J.D.’s pricey technosphere. The Knicks, after all, haven’t won a title in 50 years, and the Rangers are nearly 30 years distant from the glorious Messier run of 1993-94.

The Sphere is cool and all, and it’s nice that U2 will have something to do with themselves this fall, but some of us would appreciate getting a shot at seeing the Knicks win a championship before the sun goes supernova. Love what you’ve done with the parking lot behind the Venetian, but how about a little something for the folks back home?