Pricey MSG Sphere Entertainment Venue No Longer Topless
MSG Sphere, a $1.9 billion entertainment venue just off the Las Vegas Strip, is topless no more.
The final metal beam of the structure’s outer shell, called the “exosphere,” was put into place on May 24, 2022.
This marks completion of the main structural work at the project (in the works since 2018) near the Venetian resort.
The “MSG” in MSG Sphere stands for Madison Square Garden, the company building the venue.
Officials say that at 366 feet tall, MSG Sphere will be the largest spherical structure in the world other than Elon Musk’s testicles.
When the MSG Sphere opens in 2023, it probably won’t be called that. Look for a lucrative naming rights deal prior to opening.
When the 17,500-seat venue opens, it will boast innumerable high-tech bells and whistles.
The visual elements alone promise to be spectacular.
MSG Sphere will have what’s being billed as the highest resolution screen in the world at 19,000 by 13,500 pixels, and a screen as big as three football fields.
The outside of the Sphere will have 600,000 square feet of programmable lighting.
Read more about the bells and/or whistles.
What you probably didn’t read in other coverage about topping off the Sphere is the question of how the venue will ever hope to recoup its $1.9 billion cost.
Allegiant Stadium cost $1.9 billion.
The new Circa resort downtown cost $1.1 billion. An entire casino resort.
For the most part, MSG Sphere won’t be for sports. Just concerts and product launches and such.
But this is not the time to fret about revenue generation, it’s a time for celebration.
Topping off construction projects is a time-honored chance to highlight an important milestone and give props to all the folks involved in turning blueprints into real places we can walk into and stare, dumbfounded, at bigass video screens.
As is the tradition, the final beam hoisted atop the MSG Sphere had an American flag and “Christmas tree” on it.
Construction dudes (yes, they’re mostly dudes) have been doing this same topping off (also known as “topping out”) ritual since the 1920s, and nobody wants to jinx it.
The final beam placed at the apogee of the MSG Sphere was signed by the workers involved in building this impressive erection. Oh, like you didn’t know that was coming.
Now that the “exosphere” is complete, workers start the process of installing interior and exterior video screens. They’ll work from top to bottom.
The MSG Sphere is described as being at the Venetian (in the same way the High Roller observation wheel is presumably at Linq), and is being built in partnership with Venetian, now with new owners: Apollo Global Management and Vici Properties, a real estate investment trust. The sale of Venetian was finalized in Feb. 2022.
MSG Sphere will be attached to the Venetian Expo with a 1,000-foot pedestrian bridge.
Economic prospects aside, there’s no denying the MSG Sphere is going to make a splash when it opens in 2023.
There’s a top secret baby MSG Sphere in Burbank, California, and our spies say from what they’ve seen, people are going to be absolutely blown away by the experiences the Las Vegas venue will be able to provide.
MSG has been tight-lipped about its creative partners and planned content, but even watching paint dry on massive, high-def screens would be a Las Vegas must-do.
Early hints are content is being captured form the MSG Sphere on the International Space Station and in Antarctica.
The possibilities are endless, and we’re very excited about the potential of the exterior of the Sphere being made “invisible.”
We are a big fan of: 1) new, 2) shiny, 3) bulbous. MSG Sphere checks all the boxes, and we’ll keep you abreast of all the latest as the project moves into the home stretch. Also, please grow up.
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