Sphere Entertainment, the company behind Las Vegas’s high-tech Sphere concert venue, reported $280.6 million in revenue for Q1 2025, a 13 percent dip from the year prior.
The dip was most primarily attributable to lower revenue from Sphere’s MSG Networks segment, as the network’s agreement with Altice expired during the quarter. (MSG Networks and Altice reached a new agreement in February.) The Sphere segment’s revenue dropped 8 percent to $157.5 million.
Operating loss nearly doubled year over year, up to $78.6 million from $40.4 million. MSG Networks’ operating income fell 65 percent to 15.2 million, while the Sphere segment’s operating loss itself grew 12 percent to $93.8 million.
Adjusted operating income was $36 million, a 42 percent decrease. The Sphere segment’s adjusted operating income grew 2 percent to $13.1 million.
“Our Sphere segment generated positive adjusted operating income in the first quarter as we make progress on our strategic priorities for the business,” Sphere CEO James Dolan said in a statement. “We remain confident in the opportunities ahead for Sphere and our ability to drive growth this calendar year.”
During the earnings call, Dolan said the venue is in discussion with multiple artists for more residencies and said “we have more demand from artists than we have availability of slots.”
The Sphere will host its first country act later this month as Kenny Chesney will come to the venue for a residency beginning May 22. Meanwhile the Backstreet Boys will be the first pop act to play the venue later this year, announcing yesterday that they’d added three more shows to that residency citing high demand.
The Sphere is also expanding for more film content, with a “fully immersive” showing of The Wizard of Oz coming to the venue later this summer.
On the call, Dolan encouraged investors and analysts to focus on growth as the company looks to expand with more offerings. The company is building a second venue in Abu Dhabi and is looking at developing smaller versions of the Sphere in more markets as well.
“When you all look at this business and when you invest in it, it is not the venue business,” Dolan said. “We built this business on a disruptive model that utilizes the venue 365 days a year and even has multiple events during the day. With the Eagles and with the Dead, we’re running two original content shows on the same day as the concert, which makes for a very profitable day.
“It’s all about our ability to take a great product and expand it across the globe,” Dolan continued. “With questions about how we use our capital, it’s going to primarily be towards growth so we can make the business bigger, versus necessarily returning capital to shareholders etc. I take a look at this new project of building a smaller sphere, and there’s a real opportunity.”
