The Sphere in Las Vegas is owned by Sphere Entertainment Co., a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SPHR. The land beneath it belongs to a different company, VICI Properties, a real estate investment trust that leases the ground to Sphere Entertainment under a 50-year lease. And while Sphere Entertainment is public, voting control over the company sits with the Dolan family, who hold roughly 72% of shareholder votes through a dual-class stock structure.
The Company That Owns the Building
Sphere Entertainment Co. owns and operates the 18,600-seat venue, which opened on September 29, 2023, and cost approximately $2.3 billion to build. The company calls itself “a leader in immersive experiences, technology and media,” and the Las Vegas Sphere is its flagship asset.1Sphere Entertainment Co. Sphere Entertainment Co. Its other main holding is MSG Networks, which runs two regional sports and entertainment networks along with the MSG+ streaming service.2Sphere Entertainment Co. Sphere Entertainment Co. – Investor Relations
The company exists in its current form because of a corporate split. On April 20, 2023, Sphere Entertainment spun off its traditional live entertainment business into a new separate company called MSG Entertainment, giving its stockholders one share of the new company for every share they held and keeping about 33% of the spin-off’s shares.3Sphere Entertainment Co. Sphere Entertainment Co. Completes Spin-Off of Traditional Live Entertainment Businesses That separation left the Sphere as the central piece of a standalone public company, with a stock price tied directly to how the venue performs.
Because Sphere Entertainment is publicly traded, it files annual 10-K and quarterly 10-Q reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and anyone can read the detail on its finances, lease terms, and executive compensation.4U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Exchange Act Reporting and Registration
Who Controls Sphere Entertainment Co.
Shares trade on the open market, but actual control sits with the Dolan family, headed by James L. Dolan, who serves as Executive Chairman and CEO.5Sphere Entertainment Co. James L. Dolan – Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer The mechanism is a two-tier stock structure. Class A shares, the ones that trade publicly, carry one vote each. Class B shares carry ten votes each.6U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sphere Entertainment Co. Proxy Statement
According to the company’s proxy filing, the Dolan family directly holds about 59.8% of Class B shares and 5.5% of Class A shares, which works out to roughly 15.8% of all outstanding stock but about 43.5% of total voting power. Trusts set up for members of the Dolan family hold another 40.2% of Class B shares, adding 28.4% of voting power. Together, the family and its related trusts control about 72% of shareholder votes while owning less than a quarter of the shares.6U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sphere Entertainment Co. Proxy Statement
That kind of voting majority lets the Dolans elect the board, approve or block mergers, and set strategy without needing agreement from any outside shareholder. The board itself reflects it: seven of its members are Dolans, including James L. Dolan, his father Charles P. Dolan, and five other family members who have served as directors since 2020.7Sphere Entertainment Co. Board of Directors The short version: the corporate owner is Sphere Entertainment Co.; the people in charge are the Dolans.
Who Owns the Land
Sphere Entertainment owns the building, not the ground. The land is held under a ground lease originally executed with Las Vegas Sands Corp. When Sands sold The Venetian resort complex in 2021, the real estate transferred to VICI Properties, a real estate investment trust that now serves as landlord to many of the largest casino and resort properties on the Las Vegas Strip.
The lease terms, disclosed in SEC filings, are unusual. There is no fixed rent. Instead, the landowner gets priority access to tickets for inclusion in hotel packages and certain rent-free use of the venue to support the adjacent convention center business. If the Sphere hits specified return-on-investment targets, the landowner receives 25% of the after-tax cash flow above those thresholds. The lease runs 50 years from the venue’s substantial completion.8U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sphere Entertainment Co. SEC Filing
Ground leases of this type are common on the Strip, where land values are high and operators would rather sink capital into the building than into buying dirt. The landowner earns income from an appreciating asset; the tenant keeps full control over what happens inside the walls.
The Venetian’s Role
The venue’s full branding is “Sphere at The Venetian,” which can create the impression that The Venetian owns it. It does not. The Venetian is the only hotel directly connected to the Sphere, linked by an indoor pedestrian bridge through the Venetian Convention and Expo Center, and it markets packages that bundle rooms with event tickets.9The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. Sphere at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas The relationship is commercial: a naming partnership, a physical connection, and the ticket-access rights built into the ground lease. The Venetian has no equity stake in Sphere Entertainment Co.