After months of negotiations and community outreach, the proposed Sphere entertainment venue in National Harbor faces a final vote Tuesday by the Prince George’s County Council.
Labor unions are continuing to push county leaders to require more protections for workers to be part of the deal, including a project labor agreement that would set employment terms for construction.
The 6,000-seat venue would be operated by Sphere Entertainment Cos., which runs the famed Sphere Las Vegas.
The company, along with Maryland leaders including Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy (D) and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced earlier this year that National Harbor would become the home for the second Sphere location in the country.
The venue will cost approximately $1.4 billion to build. Earlier this month, the county council gave initial approval to a plan to authorize up to $215 million in special obligation bonds toward the project, according to the legislation. The council will take another vote Tuesday.
The Sphere National Harbor is estimated to generate $63 million for Prince George’s in annual taxes once operational, according to an economic impact report released by the county. The report projects the economic impact will also expand outside the county with more than $1.5 billion statewide estimated annually due to operations and visitor spending.
The venue is expected to be completed within four years, and feature high-resolution screen displays, immersive sound and 4D effects. Its exterior will also feature a large spherical LED screen that will display almost anything, including professional art, emoji and advertising, said Paul Macchia, senior vice president for government affairs and social impact for Sphere Entertainment, at a listening session hosted by the county last month.
The proposed project comes at a crucial time for Prince George’s County, which has dealt with the closure of a Six Flags amusement park and the Washington Commanders’ planned departure from FedEx Field to return to D.C. The county also has been hit hard by federal job cuts under the Trump administration.
“This amazing, new immersive experience that will be coming to Prince George’s County brings with it thousands of jobs for everyone, business opportunities for our local and minority businesses,” Braveboy said in a news conference earlier this month.
According to the county’s economic impact report, the venue will generate 1,700 jobs for the county once it opens. The venue is estimated to create thousands of job during construction, including more than 3,000 in Prince George’s, the report said.
At a community listening session, Macchia said the company has more than 50 contracts with unions across the Madison Square Garden family of companies, which Sphere entertainment is part of.
“We fully expect that there will be a very robust contingent of unionized workers on-site during the construction of Sphere National Harbor, and that we will have unions representing our employees after we open our doors,” he said at the listening session.
William Davis, a member of Local 474 Piledrivers and Divers and council representative with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, voiced concerns about the lack of local labor agreements with Sphere Entertainment.
“Bringing the Sphere to Prince George’s County could be a major opportunity and create jobs for local workers,” he said at the listening session. “But with an opportunity this large, we also need to make sure Prince George’s workers and contractors are protected.”
Davis said protections and opportunities in this project would mean strong labor standards, meaningful local hiring and apprenticeship opportunities for local minority contractors and strong project labor agreements.
Since the listening session, the county council adopted two amendments in recent weeks to the legislation for the proposed Sphere. One requires the developer to enter into a “Community Benefits Agreement” with the county and commit to strong local hiring, participating in local minority and small businesses and programs focused on youth, education, arts and community.
The second amendment required a labor peace agreement that would help “protect workers’ ability to organize and have a voice in the workplace,” according to a county news release.
At a news conference in late September, Braveboy said the labor peace agreement would take effect once the venue is operational, not ahead of construction.
Paul Schwalb, Local 25 executive secretary-treasurer, said his union members are glad hospitality workers would be covered in that agreement, but are concerned there is not a labor agreement in place for construction workers.
Schwalb said a project labor agreement for a proposed facility of this size is common, and has been done with renovations at Capital One Arena in D.C. and the new Commanders stadium.
Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of 32BJ SEIU, said in a statement that the union for hospitality workers “will not support moving forward until every single worker — from the ground up — is included in a fair deal.”
“It makes no sense to celebrate securing fair wages and benefits for future service staff while completely abandoning the construction workers who must build the place first,” Contreras said in a statement to The Washington Post.
Sphere Entertainment did not respond to a request for additional comment.
The Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters declined to comment on the lack of a project labor agreement. Local 474 Piledrivers and Divers did not respond after multiple attempts for comment.
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