Madison Square Garden has signed on to build a futuristic spherical music and events arena in Las Vegas in partnership with Las Vegas Sands.
The agreement between MSG and LVS will pay the gaming giant, in lieu of rent, a share of the after-tax profit from the 18,500-seat venue, which is slated to open at the end of 2020 on Sands-owned land behind The Venetian and Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip.
The agreement also commits LVS to contribute $75 million toward construction, which will include a pedestrian bridge linking the MSG Sphere, as it’s called, with the two resorts and the Sands Expo Center.
Plans call for structure 360 feet high by 500 feet wide in a 580,000-square-foot spherical shape wrapped in an open-air trellis structure that includes 190,000 linear feet of LED lighting that is programmable to create a virtually limitless array of immersive experiences. Features include a 170,000-square-foot LED display, the largest and highest-resolution screen of its kind in the world, according to MSG.
“The environments and the stories told with this new medium will be impactful,” MSG Chairman and CEO James Dolan said earlier this year. “We’re just beginning to imagine where we’ll take our audiences,” he added, saying the Sphere is being customized for the “finest storytellers, artists and content creators across the globe”.
It’s estimated the arena will provide 3,500 local construction jobs and another 4,400 once it’s open.
