All eyes are on Las Vegas as this Sunday’s Super Bowl 58 showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers looms ever closer. The much-anticipated matchup will take place at Allegiant Stadium, home to the Las Vegas Raiders, and will be the first Super Bowl ever played in the Sin City.
Allegiant Stadium is one of the newer attractions in Las Vegas and has rightfully been getting lots of attention. But there’s another nearby attraction which is even newer and perhaps even more eye-catching that’s been garnering the adulation of visitors: the Sphere.
What Is the Sphere?
The Sphere, as its name indicates, is a spherically shaped entertainment venue. According to Google Maps, Allegiant Stadium and the Sphere are fewer than four miles apart. It stands to reason, then, that visitors in town for the Super Bowl have been awestruck by the impressive structure in their travels.
The Sphere is located right outside the world-famous Venetian hotel. The hotel is an ode to luxury in grandiose fashion, making the stunning entertainment venue a geographically appropriate addition to the neighborhood.
It’s a very recent addition as well — the Sphere opened its doors just a few months ago in September of 2023.
The Venetian’s website lists a number of the Sphere’s noteworthy attributes. For instance, the Sphere is 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide. The venue seats 17,500 and has a max capacity of 20,000.
Its impressive outdoor display, which is ever-changing depending on the time of year and/or the next act slated to perform within, is powered by 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED lights.
Even a few amateur time-lapse videos from X (formerly known as Twitter) serve as a strong testament to what a spectacle the Sphere is to behold.
This MSG Sphere still amazes me, grabbed from a live webcam ( Not sure how those in nearby hotels , even those living near by are handling this…they'll need dark blackout shades. )😬
Brief time lapse this morning before sun rise over #LasVegas #MSGSphere #Vegas pic.twitter.com/xtvhXXYpoh
— AC (@ACinPhilly) September 27, 2023
Time lapse video of the new Sphere in Las Vegas from the @HighRollerVegas observation wheel. #Sphere #LasVegas #HighRoller pic.twitter.com/2lOo9bpaHx
— Bingo Buddy 🐲 #DieWithZeroRegrets (@Bing0Buddy) July 24, 2023
The Venetian’s site describes the structure as follows:
“Sphere at The Venetian is a one-of-a-kind entertainment destination made possible by the collaboration of 22nd-century technology with the world’s greatest artists. Sphere opened on September 29th with the first of 25 performances by U2 and is home to The Sphere Experience featuring robots, avatar captures, holograms, and Darren Aronofsky’s multi-sensory film Postcard from Earth.”
The Sphere drew headlines recently when a man, Maison Des Champs, scaled the structure on Wednesday as a form of protest, as per the Associated Press. The self-proclaimed “Official Pro-Life Spider-Man” took to Instagram Wednesday morning to explain to his followers that he’d be scaling the massive structure to bring attention to and raise funds for pro-life causes.
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Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. Des Champs will face charges for destruction of property. It’s safe to say his efforts to draw attention were relatively successful, as he picked, after all, quite the attention-grabbing structure.
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