Crews working on MSG Sphere have installed the central section of the steel that will support the immersive entertainment venue’s interior display.
Expected to open in the second half of 2023, the MSG Sphere has been one of the most eagerly anticipated projects in Las Vegas since its initial announcement four years ago. Even in the Strip corridor, where there are plenty of arena-sized venues hosting concerts, sports and other live entertainment events, the plans for the 17,500-seat Sphere stand out because of its unique design and technology.
A partnership between Madison Square Garden Entertainment and the Venetian located just east of the resort’s convention space, the Sphere recently marked some new construction and development milestones, some of which can be observed from outside the 366-foot-tall structure. An exosphere covering the building will consist of a digital display space considered the largest LED screen in the world.
Construction crews have finished the widest part of the exosphere, 516 feet in diameter, and are finishing the structure’s upper sections. When finished, it will be covered with approximately 580,000 square feet of fully programmable lighting that can create almost any image imaginable.
But inside the Sphere is where the action will take place, and its interior LED display plane is taking shape. The central section of steel framing that will support the vast screen was recently installed, a piece dubbed “the mohawk” because of how it arches in a strip from behind the center of the stage up 240 feet above the venue floor and reaches behind the seating area.
“With this central steel section in place, you can start to see how the massive scale and curved shape of the interior LED screen will surround the stage and audience to create a completely immersive visual environment,” said Nick Tomasino, vice president of construction for MSG Entertainment. “Building the immersive steel framework is one of the most complex elements of the entire project, and this is a tremendous achievement by the skilled tradespeople working on site.”
The interior display totals nearly four acres of surface space wrapping up and around the audience inside the Sphere, and when its entire steel framework is completed — expected later this year — it will weigh approximately 730 tons and also support the 170,000 speaker audio system.
After initially beginning construction in the summer of 2018, work on the $1.7 billion Sphere project was paused in March 2020 due to the pandemic, resuming in August of that year.