The imposing Sphere in Las Vegas might soon have a little sibling on the East Coast. The company behind it has announced its intent to build a similar venue at National Harbor in the Washington DC metropolitan area.
That's from Sphere Entertainment Company, the State of Maryland, Prince George’s County, and real estate developer Peterson Companies. The idea is to build a replica of the original immersive entertainment arena to seat 6,000 people and treat them to the same tech that you'll find in the Las Vegas bubble.
Fun fact: despite what the name will have you believe, the Sphere is actually a geodesic dome.
The space is designed to host music performances, film screenings, and keynotes, with a ginormous wraparound display enhancing the spectacle. The Las Vegas one, which has standing room for 20,000 people, has a 16K-resolution interior LED screen measuring 160,000 sq ft (15,000 sq m) designed and manufactured by Montreal, Canada-based Saco Technologies. This is paired with 167,000 beamforming and wave field synthesis speakers that can precisely direct sound around the arena, as well as 4D physical effects and haptics you can feel in the seats.
The smaller upcoming Sphere will also get a similar 16K resolution screen, and the company says this is the highest resolution display anywhere on the planet.
Sphere Entertainment hasn't said what this might cost or when it'll be ready, but we can look at the Las Vegas structure for reference. The first Sphere came in at US$2.3 billion, and took nearly five years to complete by the time it opened in 2023 – but that includes COVID-related delays, with construction stalling and supply chains being disrupted. The National Harbor venue will get a combination of public and private funding, which includes roughly $200 million in state, local, and private incentives.
The company says it's excited to take on this venture as part of its vision to build out a global network of Spheres in forward-looking cities. Indeed, there are plans afoot to erect another in Abu Dhabi in the coming years.
These structures are undoubtedly incredible marvels of engineering and technological wizardry – but Sphere Entertainment is yet to crack the formula to financial success. Despite hosting major acts like U2, Phish, and Backstreet Boys, and earning revenue to the tune of $262.5 million in the third quarter of 2025, it's still making losses amounting to dozens of millions of dollars, and those figures are on the rise. It'll be interesting to see if the East Coast Sphere can help change the company's fortune.
Source: Sphere Entertainment
