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Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits

lasvegassun.com

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

#171

Post by bstre »

jzb wrote: post #47
Havoc wrote: post #37

Initially thought it would be a useless gimmick but judging by social media reaction it seems that was wrong. It’s popular and I suspect on track to become a unique attraction

I have a friend who went to see the U2 show there and they had lots of praise for it as a venue. U2 isn't quite interesting enough to me for me to pay for the tickets and travel, but if a band I'm really into were playing there... I'd probably find the money. (If any booking agents or whatever are reading this... get The Cure to do a residency and I'm there. If you can get the Talking Heads to do a reunion show there…

I saw the U2 show from the front rail at the Sphere. It was the single best concert I've ever been to of the uncountable shows I have seen. I don't love U2, either. The sphere is nearly magical to experience.

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

#172

Post by magicalhippo »

mdhen wrote: post #170
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…

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.

Ah yes, they don't own any of the venues I frequent, or any at all that I know of.

I can certainly see them being able to get away with more shenanigans in that case.

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

#173

Post by rjmunro »

ben7799 wrote: post #83
corysama wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMAX digital is a full-FOV 4:3 4K display with 44 speakers. The Sphere interior is a wrap-around 16K display with 168,000 interference-coordinated speakers. It’s like IMAX squared :P

Obviously it is digital and Omnimax (not IMAX) is analog but how does the Sphere compare to Omnimax? Is it an even bigger field of view? The most recent time I went to an Omnimax was to see Oppenheimer, but it actually wasn't that great since Oppenheimer was filmed in IMAX versus Omnimax.. the end result was a gigantic wrap around movie that had spherical distortion and made your neck hurt from turning it to see ever…

So the IMAX company renamed "Omnimax" to "IMAX dome" in about the year 2000, but some of the theatres kept the old name.

Watching an analog flat screen IMAX movie on a dome seems like a horrible mess, but if you digitized it, pre-corrected the distortion and re-printed it to use not-all of the dome screen I guess it could work. Maybe you could achieve similar in the analogue domain with a special arrangement of lenses.

I expect you could take an IMAX dome film, digitize it and translate it to the Sphere quite easily.

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

#174

Post by ryandrake »

I_Am_Nous wrote: post #141
sfitz wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were already buzzed before going, you're probably not making super sound financial decisions inside.

It's Vegas, people don't go there to make sound financial decisions :P Possible counter-strategy is that the prices are high so people stay relatively tame inside. Who wants to pay ($20/unit of alcohol) to even try to get drunk?

Yea anyone who's visited Vegas knows that from the time your plane lands to when you takeoff, you're basically just spewing money to everyone constantly. I think there are at least 5-10 people just between your airline gate and your hotel room door with their hands out looking for tips.

Not a place to go if you're frugal.

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

#175

Post by FFP999 »

alephnerd wrote: post #112
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.

> notoriously combative CEO Understatement of the year. Dolan successfully destroyed 2 major sports franchises (Knicks and Rangers) he spent millions on acquiring and managing. He is also using facial recognition to ban all employees of law firms suing MSG (his company) from going to any of their properties, and NY State is considering pulling his liquor license as a result. The only reason he's solvent is because th…

Maybe the funniest and most pathetic thing about Dolan is that his true love would appear to be his band (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JD_%26_The_Straight_Shot). It's basically the best session musicians inherited money can buy backing a frontman whose singing has been described as "karaoke-grade" and "like he's trying not to cough".

And his employees are expected to attend his shows. And he checks on this.

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

#177

Post by buffington »

magicalhippo wrote: post #168
buffington wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" lik…

I think it's likely that Ticketmaster operates differently in Norway. What you describe sounds reasonable, but what Ticketmaster does in the United States is simply ridiculous.

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

#178

Post by bluedevil2k »

ljf wrote: post #93
bluedevil2k wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't remember it being pricy You clearly haven’t been there in the last few years. $16 for a beer is the norm at clubs and bars if you’re not gambling.

I last went to Vegas in 2014, and in the hotel pool bar it was $16 for a small bottle of Budweiser. I had a rather dry trip at those prices.

The trick is to go to the CVS and Walgreens on the strip and load up with relatively cheap beer and avoid the exhortation from the casinos.

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

#179

Post by andy800 »

ryandrake wrote: post #174
I_Am_Nous wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Vegas, people don't go there to make sound financial decisions :P Possible counter-strategy is that the prices are high so people stay relatively tame inside. Who wants to pay ($20/unit of alcohol) to even try to get drunk?

Yea anyone who's visited Vegas knows that from the time your plane lands to when you takeoff, you're basically just spewing money to everyone constantly. I think there are at least 5-10 people just between your airline gate and your hotel room door with their hands out looking for tips. Not a place to go if you're frugal.

Funny that this is the general perception of Las Vegas after 50 years of marketing itself as a budget destination

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

#180

Post by andy800 »

tootie wrote: post #110
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 can imagine a ton of logistical constraints. They have U2 doing a residence, and I'd guess that residences are going to be the only options. Designing visuals on such a unique and complex display to match a specific artist is at least a few person-months of effort. You have to plan shows very far in advance and spend a lot of money on show production. This likely excludes anyone but the top-tier performers. And the…

The fact that the exterior is a giant ad is exactly what makes it a revenue generator
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