Sphere Entertainment Cos. built the largest spherical building on Earth in Las Vegas.
Now it wants to build a smaller one outside D.C.
The company behind Sphere unveiled plans Sunday night for what is says will be the world’s first “mini-Sphere” venue off the Potomac River in Maryland, a 6,000-seat immersive experience that would open in 2030.
The smaller cousin of the famed Vegas attraction would offer the same features as the original and be the first in a “global network” of mini-Spheres, which the company wants to also call Sphere.
The new one would be roughly a third of the size, but it would cost half as much to build — more than $1 billion, situated near an existing casino at National Harbor. With its 4D experience, the venue is expected to generate $1 billion in economic activity annually by hosting large-scale, immersive concerts with in-residence artists, sporting events and corporate functions.
“This Sphere in National Harbor, it will have all the elements that we have in Las Vegas,” David “Digger” Granville-Smith, Sphere Entertainment Co.’s executive vice president, said in an interview.
As he described it, the mini-Sphere would have sight lines to the Washington Monument, making it visible on flight paths to Reagan National Airport — its domed, LED-paneled exterior sparkling with ads and art installations on its “Exosphere.”
That is, if it all goes as planned.
The deal includes roughly $200 million in incentives Maryland offered — mostly public subsidies and tax incentives to defray the cost.
Granville-Smith said the company signed a “letter of intent” with Peterson Cos., developers of the National Harbor development that is anchored by an MGM casino and has restaurants, shopping and a 180-foot Ferris wheel.
Peterson Cos. offered to negotiate a discount on the 8 acres needed to build it, a roughly $15 million contribution, a state official said.
“We looked around the globe, quite frankly, for partners. We were looking for forward-thinking cities and states,” Granville-Smith said.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy (D) each toured the original Sphere — he saw Kenny Chesney rehearse, she saw a Zac Brown show — and have developed a package of tax breaks, government-backed loans and incentive programs that add up to almost $185 million, according to the state.
Many incentives require a public vote, however, including $10 million in financing from the state at a time Maryland faces a $1.4 billion budget deficit. It also calls for forgoing as much as $130 million in future local tax money, building a $40 million public parking garage and tweaking existing incentives for National Harbor offered by Prince George’s, which is reeling from multiple economic punches in the past year.
Moore called the mini-Sphere project “a massive, massive deal” and the type of economic diversification needed in a state battered by federal job losses. “We’re just absolutely thrilled,” he said in a joint interview with Braveboy and Granville-Smith. “It’s just an absolute perfect marriage.”
Braveboy said Sphere “really merges technology with entertainment to create an experience like no other. I’ve been there myself and I can tell you that it’s not just a place to go, it is an experience. You leave there feeling like you’ve been somewhere.”
To those unfamiliar, know this: It’s Sphere. It’s not The Sphere, despite how badly you want it to be — and despite how many people you’ll hear call it that.
The original Sphere — a more than $2 billion venue filled with roughly 18,000 seats, dressed in more than 580,000 square feet of programmable LED panels — opened in Las Vegas in 2023 with a run of shows by the band who seems to support every technology innovation: U2.
Since then, Sphere has slowly begun attempting global domination, meeting some resistance along the way. A second full-size one is being built in Abu Dhabi, while plans to build others in London and South Korea have stalled. Maryland’s mini-Sphere would be the first of its kind.
It is nearly impossible to describe the experience of being inside of Sphere with mere sentences. That isn’t to say that it’s good, or that it’s bad. It’s just unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The best phrase to describe it is: INSANELY OVERWHELMING.
“If people haven’t seen it, you’ll see that something at Sphere is not a show. It is actually an experience,” Moore said.
It’s often referred to as Imax on steroids, but that only gets at the size. Which is impressive: The thing, at least the Vegas version, is a 366-foot tall, 516-foot wide dome.
But those numbers don’t quite convey the immersivity of it. Most seats are equipped with haptic technology. There are means to create winds and scents. But even without these extras, the mere visuals — to say nothing of the surround sound from almost 1,600 speakers — are enough to transport audiences wherever the artists choose to plop them.
There is a more than zero chance you will feel ill. You will, at some point, almost definitely feel dizzy and wonder if you’re going to tumble off the stands to the ground below. And in Vegas, you’ve ponied up several hundred dollars for the experience.
The dome is made of what its founders claim is the highest-resolution LED screens on Earth. When wild, dazzling, dizzying graphics and videos and animations begin swirling and dancing across it, there’s really nowhere else to look.
The only way to escape it is to leave.
Well, kind of. Because, even when you leave, you’re merely greeted with more light-emitting diodes, these on the outside. The entire exterior of the dome is also a screen.
Probably not the best news for anyone living near the structure, though.
Granville-Smith promises that the version they plan to build at National Harbor — and then in cities around the world — will only have a smaller seating capacity. The experience will in no other way be diminished, and he claims that acts who play at one Sphere can (and, they hope, will) easily transport the same experience to any other Sphere, even if they’re the smaller ones.
The project is supposed to create 2,500 construction jobs and 4,750 long-term jobs once operational, according to the company and officials announcing the project.
Prince George’s, long known as an enclave of Black wealth, has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce and canceling of a multibillion project to build a new campus for the FBI. Before that, the Washington Commanders announced they would build a gleaming new football stadium in D.C., abandoning their home of two decades at Northwest Stadium in Prince George’s.
Though Granville-Smith could not share specifics on the mini-Sphere’s average ticket price point or sought-after bookings, he said most artists will likely still follow the residency model (playing several shows in a row).
The venue, he added, will also be used for corporate and branding events and even sports such as UFC and boxing. The exterior will display commercial advertisements half the time and artwork during the other half.
Any Maryland residents with light sensitivity, rest assured: It will not be illuminated 24 hours a day. The dome has to sleep.
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