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Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

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Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#161

Post by rurp »

nightski wrote: post #25
munk-a wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still, the involvement of ticketmaster will scare off a lot of potential customers - that company is more toxic than saying "Brought to you by Comcast and Bank of America".

Taylor swift used ticketmaster and I'd say her eras tour was quite successful despite it. So I wouldn't blame that as the factor for the Sphere's success or failure even if I dislike the choice.

As someone who doesn't follow Taylor Swift at all, the two stories that filtered through to me were * Lots of people were pissed at Ticketmaster * The tour was a big success

It seems like it was a success despite ticketmaster.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#162

Post by didgetmaster »

gadders wrote: post #98
t3rabytes wrote: post #3

I gotta be honest, I'm not sure what was expected? They spent $2b building this thing, it's brand new tech, it didn't host many shows last quarter (it was open for 1? full month of the quarter). I still think The Sphere is super damn cool and I can't wait to go to an event there.

This seems to be a pattern for expensive infra projects: - Original company builds expensive piece of infrastructure - Original company fails to make money on expensive piece of infrastructure - Original company goes bust - New company buys infrastructure cheap - New company manages to run a profitable business See Eurotunnel, Iridium, probably others I've forgotten.

Makes you wonder if that wasn't the plan all along. The original company has a lot of investors who would share a big percentage of the profits if it is successful. Those in charge fix things so that those investors are shed and all the profits are instead funneled to entities they control exclusively.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#163

Post by jcpham2 »

bombcar wrote: post #131
gsk22 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, I thought the dome style was IMAX? What is a non-dome Imax theater like then?

Someone might be from San Diego! The dome-style IMAX are actually apparently quite rare, the "normal" IMAX is just a really big (about three stories tall) screen, that is slightly curved usually.

I believe Six Flags over Georgia had an actual IMAX dome that I remember as a kid - a projector experience of short films such as flying airplanes, racing cars and such.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#164

Post by fanf2 »

tonyjin wrote: post #134
t3rabytes wrote: post #3

I gotta be honest, I'm not sure what was expected? They spent $2b building this thing, it's brand new tech, it didn't host many shows last quarter (it was open for 1? full month of the quarter). I still think The Sphere is super damn cool and I can't wait to go to an event there.

I saw both the U2 show and Postcard from Earth movie. Both were amazing in their own way, but the movie was a better demonstration of the technology if you have to choose one (and if you're not a big U2 fan). The Sphere partnered with an immersive sound company Holoplot to design and build the sound system ( https://holoplot.com/news/sphere-immersive-sound-powered-by-... ) - this was very impressive during the movie…

Sounds like an IMAX Dome.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#165

Post by TMWNN »

tw04 wrote: post #72
t3rabytes wrote: post #3

I gotta be honest, I'm not sure what was expected? They spent $2b building this thing, it's brand new tech, it didn't host many shows last quarter (it was open for 1? full month of the quarter). I still think The Sphere is super damn cool and I can't wait to go to an event there.

They're also basically killing any locals going with the cost of concessions and probably driving a lot of people to just not spend any money there. At $40 for a double shot and $20 for a beer, I'd be drinking before I got to the venue if that were my thing. https://www.outkick.com/drink-prices-vegas-sphere-beer-liquo...

>They're also basically killing any locals going with the cost of concessions

Local residents are absolutely not the target audience for Vegas casinos and other attractions.

Vegas casinos offers super-cheap food and drink to lure gamblers. Locals take advantage of said low prices, but that's a side effect of the main purpose which is to keep tourists near the card tables and slot machines. The Sphere does not have gambling, thus needs the food and drink to pay their own way.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#166

Post by buffington »

magicalhippo wrote: post #92
schaefer wrote: post #11

I'm local, and curious. If I go to the official website[1] to view all shows, they redirect me to the hellscape that is ticketmaster. That is literally only friction it takes before I'm out. The scalpers are squatting your 2 billion dollar venue. [1]: https://www.thespherevegas.com/shows

I'm from (and live in) Norway. Ticketmaster is used for a lot of shows here too, especially the larger venues. While I wouldn't call them the best thing since sliced bread, overall my experience over the years is that they take my money and give me my tickets. Today I bought some tickets. I vent to the venue, saw there was a show, clicked on Buy tickets, took me to Ticketmaster, logged on, found ticket, paid via loca…

Can you describe the fees of those tickets?

Stupid invented fees are what flipped the "never again" switch for me. Every step of the buying process, there'd be a new fee tacked on. You'd get things like "order processing fee, $20, facility fee, $10, service fee, $23, digital copies fee, $10, fee to see what all the fees add up to, $20".

You'd end up spending $120 on a pair of tickets, and $500 on invented fees that any sane person would have a very difficult time justifying.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#167

Post by mike503 »

mmanfrin wrote: post #28

It was open for 2 days of the fiscal quarter. The CFO quit after being yelled at by the notoriously combative CEO. The news has been running with this headline because it's drawing clicks but it's not really painting an accurate picture.

Exactly. It posted millions of revenue from just two nights of U2. I've seen both shows there. It's a neat venue. Everyone agrees and would go back. The sky is the limit. This is a garbage headline.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#168

Post by magicalhippo »

buffington wrote: post #166
magicalhippo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from (and live in) Norway. Ticketmaster is used for a lot of shows here too, especially the larger venues. While I wouldn't call them the best thing since sliced bread, overall my experience over the years is that they take my money and give me my tickets. Today I bought some tickets. I vent to the venue, saw there was a show, clicked on Buy tickets, took me to Ticketmaster, logged on, found ticket, paid via loca…

Can you describe the fees of those tickets? Stupid invented fees are what flipped the "never again" switch for me. Every step of the buying process, there'd be a new fee tacked on. You'd get things like "order processing fee, $20, facility fee, $10, service fee, $23, digital copies fee, $10, fee to see what all the fees add up to, $20". You'd end up spending $120 on a pair of tickets, and $500 on invented fees that a…

I just bought a couple of tickets to a small venue, tickets were $26 each (NOK is weak these days) including a fee of $2.25 each, so grand total $52 of which $4.50 total in fees. Checking my card, this is indeed what my card was charged, so no additional hidden fees.

I bought some tickets earlier this year for a mid-sized venue, $44 per ticket including $3.50 in fees each.

I did not select the optional "services" like physical ticket (just eTicket which is e-mail with PDF) or the ticket insurance.

Checking my ticket history (~10 concerts through Ticketmaster last couple of years) it's always been around this 10% in fees. It's comparable to the other ticket vendors other venues use that I've bought from like TicketCo and Tikkio.

edit: I checked Bryan Adams, he's coming to a larger venue next year which also uses Ticketmaster. Only tickets left were the least expensive ones (standing) at $75 per ticket, including a $5 fee.

edit2: Besides Ticketmaster not owning venues as mentioned by sibling reply, I guess a big factor is that, AFAIK, any non-optional fees must be included in the "sticker price" here in Norway. So they can't tack those on later.

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#169

Post by robjwells »

brewdad wrote: post #130
whycome wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but it must have been a giant league with lots of teams. ...Right? (9 teams...) Now, their name is simple "the red-blacks" and is for the colors of their uniforms. Toronto's soccer team in Major League Soccer is called "Toronto FC" or "Toronto Football Club". Calgary: "Cavalry FC" which seems extra confusing when spoken. Sports naming is so weird.

Speaking of weird names, I've always been fascinated about how the football (soccer) team the Young Boys decided to go with that. I'm not about to just Google that though. I don't need my browser history polluted with the types of wrong results that would come up.

Named in contrast to Basel Old Boys, apparently. (“Old Boys” as in former pupils of a school.)

Re: Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

#170

Post by mdhen »

magicalhippo wrote: post #92
schaefer wrote: post #11

I'm local, and curious. If I go to the official website[1] to view all shows, they redirect me to the hellscape that is ticketmaster. That is literally only friction it takes before I'm out. The scalpers are squatting your 2 billion dollar venue. [1]: https://www.thespherevegas.com/shows

I'm from (and live in) Norway. Ticketmaster is used for a lot of shows here too, especially the larger venues. While I wouldn't call them the best thing since sliced bread, overall my experience over the years is that they take my money and give me my tickets. Today I bought some tickets. I vent to the venue, saw there was a show, clicked on Buy tickets, took me to Ticketmaster, logged on, found ticket, paid via loca…

Ticketmaster is a vertical monopoly in the US. They control all major venues in the country, all ticketing, and resale of that ticjeting. They are awful. I assume they have yet to achieve total market dominance in norway.
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