OXON HILL, MD. — Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE: SPHR), the owner and operator of the Sphere venue in Las Vegas that opened in 2023, is partnering with locally based developer Peterson Cos. for a smaller Sphere venue in National Harbor, a waterfront neighborhood in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Oxon Hill.
The planned project represents the second Sphere entertainment venue in the United States and third in the world following the future Sphere’s completion in Abu Dhabi.
“Our focus has always been on creating a global network of Spheres across forward-looking cities,” says James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment.
The site for Sphere at National Harbor overlooks the Potomac River and would complement other National Harbor mainstays such as MGM National Harbor, a $1.4 billion casino that opened in 2016, Capital Wheel, Gaylord National Resort and Topgolf. The more than 300-acre National Harbor district welcomes approximately 15 million visitors nationally.
At full completion, the Sphere venue will feature the Exosphere, which is the Sphere’s programmable LED exterior display, as well as 6,000 seats for concerts, immersive movie presentations and other events. The new venue’s seating volume represents about a third of the 18,600-seat capacity at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
The venue will also feature a 16K-by-16K interior display plane, which according to the development team is the world’s highest-resolution LED screen. All of Sphere’s advanced technologies would be incorporated, including Sphere Immersive Sound, as well as haptic seating and 4D environmental effects.
Sphere Entertainment and Peterson expect the new venue to have an annual economic impact of $1 billion and support 4,750 jobs year-round, as well as 2,500 jobs during the construction phase. The co-developers will receive $200 million in state, local and private incentives from the State of Maryland and Prince George’s County in connection with the project.
“Maryland has a long history of providing world-class entertainment, and we could not be more excited to work with Sphere Entertainment to bring this cutting-edge project to life,” says Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. “This will be one of the largest economic development projects in Prince George’s County history — proving once again our state is the best place in the country to bring dreams to life. We’re excited for what this means for our people, and how it will showcase the best of what Maryland has to offer to everyone who visits.”
Any construction, development, financing and operation of a Sphere venue at National Harbor is contingent upon, among other things, negotiation and execution of definitive agreements, as well as receipt of certain governmental incentives and approvals from Prince George’s County and the State of Maryland. The construction timeline was not released.
Sphere Entertainment is a publicly traded company controlled by the Dolan family, which is led by New York Knicks owner James Dolan. The company’s portfolio includes its pipeline of new and existing Sphere entertainment venues, as well as MSG Networks, a New York City-based sports and entertainment platform that includes MSG Network, MSG Sportsnet and MSG+, a streaming platform that has now joined the Gotham Sports app.
Sphere Entertainment’s stock price closed on Friday, Jan. 16 at $96.36 per share, up from $41.18 a year ago, a 134 percent increase.
Peterson Cos. is privately owned real estate development company and master developer of the National Harbor district. The company is based in Fairfax, Va.
— John Nelson