James Dolan's sketch of the Sphere becomes reality as the venue opens with a U2 show in Las Vegas
It started as a crude sketch of a circle with a stick person inside
LAS VEGAS — It started as a crude sketch — a circle with a stick person inside. Seven years later, that drawing has been made real: A $2.3 billion massive spherical venue, standing 366 feet (111 meters) high and lighting up the Las Vegas skyline.
The drawing was initially made by James Dolan, the executive chair of Madison Square Garden and owner of the New York Knicks and Rangers. He and MSG Ventures CEO David Dibble were trying to create a plan to give the entertainment venue industry a facelift in Las Vegas.
Both experimented with different shapes for the structure — such as a muffin, a box and even a pyramid — until Dolan drew the circle and stick person on a notebook. At that moment, the Sphere was born.
Now, Dolan’s vision will come to fruition when U2’s “UV Achtung Baby” residency kicks off the opening of his high-tech, globe-shaped venue Friday night.
“It really is a new medium,” said Dolan, speaking to the media during a walkthrough Thursday. «When you’re in the Sphere, you don’t get told what to look at. The audience decides what they want to focus on.”
Inside the 516-foot-wide (157-meter-wide) Sphere, a high-resolution LED screen wraps halfway around the 17,500-seat audience. The venue is equipped with thousands of speakers that will deliver a “crystal-clear,” multi-layered experience.
The venue features an array of technology attractions, including five interactive humanoid robots named Aura.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Dibble, who framed Dolan’s original drawing after carrying the picture in his backpack. “Everything from our audio and networking system, visual displays, camera systems stored — it’s all required to deliver
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