The MSG Sphere has been pegged as the most expensive entertainment venue ever built in Las Vegas, and the price will only rise.according to billboard, The concert venue is now estimated to cost $2.3 billion—$1 billion more than originally budgeted.
When Sphere, the 20,000-seat performance venue near the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip, was first announced in 2018, MSG and Las Vegas Sands expected the building to cost $1.2 billion, then adjusted their estimates to $1.7 billion. However, recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that the budget has grown to $2.3 billion.
Some of Sphere’s rising costs can be blamed on the pandemic, which has both stalled construction and affected the industry as a whole. However, the most recent change was due to “the overall complexity of the project,” officials said. The building will feature 580,000 square feet of LED panels to facilitate aesthetic changes for different performers, and 170,000 hyper-directional speakers designed to direct audio to every seat in the venue. When you take the arena’s spherical shape into account, it takes on a whole new meaning for surround sound.
Despite rising costs, the SEC filing noted “significant progress” in the construction of Sphere, including LED lights and hospitality suites inside the stadium. It is expected to open in late September with the launch of U2’s “Achtung Baby Live At Sphere” residency.Tickets for these shows are available here.