London rejects a version of The Sphere

The recent blog entry, "Learning from Las Vegas: Round 2 | Planning for Activation and Transformational Projects," discusses how destinations can't rest on their laurels, they have to constantly focus on refreshment and adding new attractions, so they can keep up their stream of visitors.

The Sphere, created by Madison Square Garden Company, is an entertainment venue just east of the Las Vegas Strip. ("James Dolan’s $2.3 Billion Sphere Is Raising Eyebrows—in a Good Way," Bloomberg). Photos: Mikayla Williamson for Bloomberg.

One of the recently opened super major attractions is The Sphere ("The Sphere mesmerizing Las Vegas months before opening," Courthouse News Service, "Lighting up Las Vegas: The Sphere's most eye-popping displays since lighting up Sin City five months ago," Daily Mail), which is a multimedia extravaganza that is unparalleled, and requires special preparation to fully maximize the experience.  

From the Barron's article, "Sphere Gives CEO Jim Dolan Options Grants Worth $17 Million":

The Sphere was Dolan’s baby, with the CEO conceiving the idea for a music-focused arena that has over 17,000 seats with a state-of-the-art sound system.

... The Sphere opened in late September with a U2 concert that impressed fans and critics who praised the arena’s sound and video system. A nearly hourlong show called Postcard from Earth plays regularly at the Sphere and has drawn interest from tourists. The shell of the Sphere amounts to a huge billboard. It’s covered in over a million LED bulbs, and has attracted advertisers and helped make the Sphere an instant Vegas landmark. 

The arena, the main asset of Sphere, was completed at a cost of $2.3 billion, about $1 billion above the original cost estimate. The company has yet to provide financial guidance for the arena, with Wall Street expecting some projections when the company reports September quarter results next month.

The cost of creating these experiences is high, and only a few cities across the globe likely possess the right set of conditions and high income residents and visitors with the money to spend on attending, once or more times per year.  To make the costs work, shows need to be shared across multiple sites. 

That's why they attempted to get approval to build one in London ("Proposed designs revealed for MSG Sphere, UK's largest concert arena," "Like Piccadilly Circus, but spherical: is east London ready for the MSG Sphere?," Guardian) which was first proposed in 2019 and has recently been denied ("Stratford sphere proposals rejected by London mayor," BBC).

From the BBC article:

Mr Khan rejected the development, citing the amount of light pollution that it would cause for Stratford residents, its huge electricity bill and associated lack of "green" credentials, and the impact it would have on heritage sites in the area. 

A spokesperson for the mayor said: "London is open to investment from around the world and Sadiq wants to see more world-class, ambitious, innovative entertainment venues in our city. 

"But as part of looking at the planning application for the MSG Sphere, the mayor has seen independent evidence that shows the current proposals would result in an unacceptable negative impact on local residents."

Paris has Euro Disneyland, Hamburg is a center for musical theater, Spain has the Mediterranean, London has lots of attractions including the O2 Arena concert facility.  Venice has the canals, Florence art, Rome ancient and contemporary history and the Vatican.  But a lot of these places now are concerned about overtourism, not adding new attractions ("Barcelona's war on tourism," New European, "Amsterdam's new tourism campaign is ready to ruffle some feathers," Lonely Planet).

But especially in the post-Brexit world, which has made entry to the country much more difficult, diminished British industrial output, exports, and reduced the number of tourist visits, London has to more carefully manage itself as a destination to maintain its position as a leading destination in Europe.

The Guggenheim Bilbao is sculptural and architecturally forward.  It has sparked a great deal of "architourism" to the city. Photo: ©FMGB, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 2017.

Sometimes that means taking a chance, the way Bilbao did on the Guggenheim Museum ("Why can't the "Bilbao Effect" be reproduced? | Bilbao as an example of Transformational Projects Action Planning").  

And it means managing the city as a destination.  

This does create tensions between anti-development forces among residents, but it's something that has to be overtly addressed.

Another rendering of the proposed Sphere in London.

But it's hard for a locally elected Mayor to buck the people who vote, and make such a pathbreaking long term decision.

From the BBC article:

City Hall said: "WSP concluded that the Illuminated Sphere, in conjunction with other artificial lighting within the proposed development… would be likely to have significant adverse effects on occupiers of nearby residential premises." 

This included at least 33 homes in the New Garden Quarter residential development; 28 homes in the Legacy Tower/Stratford Central; and 177 student rooms in the Unite student accommodation building. 

The size of the Sphere would make it a "bulky, unduly dominant and incongruous form of development" and cause harm to the setting of 16 heritage buildings, including the Grade II* listed Stratford Theatre Royal and three conservation areas.

These are tough issues to balance.  I'd say buy out the homes if that's what the owners want.  And recognize that the heritage built environment in London is strong enough to withstand the "incursion" of a structure like The Sphere, just as Bilbao was able to wrt the Guggenheim.

Although I will admit this goes against my strong historic preservation sense and the concept of the "architecture of the ensemble."

But like Liverpool and the Everton stadium ("Liverpool loses UNESCO World Heritage Site designation: An example of tough choices for cash strapped governments"), sometimes you have to make super hard decisions that go against the grain.

Mega events and city marketing.  The book Wish You Were Here: The Branding of Stockholm and Destinations, authored by Julian Stubbs, makes the point that events, from mega events like the Olympics to big city festivals like Artscape in Baltimore (which has been wrecked somewhat by failures by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and separately the city, which took over the agency) are important marketing touchpoints for cities.

He doesn't discuss big anchors like concert facilities or spectacles like The Sphere but they should be included.

For example, I surely hadn't thought of the economic impact at the local level of superstar concerts by the likes of Taylor Swift ("The Staggering Economic Impact of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour," TIME Magazine).  From the article:

If you live in one of the 20 locales Swift, 33, performed at in the last five months, your city has likely seen a boost in revenue from the hundreds of thousands of attendees who traveled from near and far. If you don’t—or simply couldn’t snag tickets due to the cost or the now infamous Ticketmaster snafu—chances are you’ve seen clips of the three-and-a-half hour show from celebrities’ Instagram stories. 

There’s also the timing: The tour has become the perfect outing for concert-goers itching for a post-pandemic live music immersive experience. “We are in an experience economy where people crave going out and participating in social events,” says Alice Enders, a music industry analyst at Enders Analysis and a former senior economist at the World Trade Organization. “It's no surprise that people are flocking to this Eras Tour experience in what is increasingly an otherwise digital environment we live in.”

... But the money goes far deeper than just net profits. The Eras Tour is projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone. “If Taylor Swift were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries,” said Dan Fleetwood, President of QuestionPro Research and Insights, in a story for GlobalNewsWire. On the opening night in Glendale, Ariz., the concert brought in more revenue for local businesses than Super Bowl LVII, which was held back in February in the same stadium. To use that event as a comparison, Swift has been performing the equivalent of two to three Super Bowls every weekend for the past five months (and six of seven nights at her last round of shows in Los Angeles).

Typically, every $100 spent on live performances generates an estimated $300 in ancillary local spending on things like hotels, food and transportation. But for the Eras Tour, Swifties are taking this to the next level, dropping an estimated $1,300-$1,500 on things like outfits and costumes, merchandise, dining, and travel—boosting local economies by hundreds of millions of dollars in one weekend.

Wish you were here isn't a primer or textbook, it's more of an outline and motivator aimed to get interested parties thinking and "thinking right" as it relates to place branding, and the impact of tourism on the local economy both in terms of visitation but also attracting new business and new investment to further strengthen the local economy. Typically, every $100 spent on live performances generates an estimated $300 in ancillary local spending on things like hotels, food and transportation. But for the Eras Tour, Swifties are taking this to the next level, dropping an estimated $1,300-$1,500 on things like outfits and costumes, merchandise, dining, and travel—boosting local economies by hundreds of millions of dollars in one weekend.

There are a bunch of case studies, not in super depth, for cities like New York, Barcelona, and Liverpool, which show the range of responses that are possible.

One point he makes is that cities need to invest more money and time into the creation of events and festivals, but he also discusses mega events like the Olympics and the World Cup.

Unfortunately, for many countries, mega events--like South Africa for soccer, and Greece and Brazil for the Olympics--such events don't work out, but that's not relevant to this particular entry. 

Light pollution.  I'm the first to admit I wouldn't want to live in the viewshed/lightshed of The Sphere overnight.  Apparently the Vegas Sphere shuts off at 11pm.  So it's not as big a deal as I thought.

Is seeing believing?  Even though it adds years to the approval process, I wonder if it will be easier for The Sphere to be approved in other places now that people can see it in operation.  People aren't big on thinking about approving things they aren't familiar with.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Bram van den Berg of U2 perform during opening night of U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere on Sept. 29, 2023 in Las Vegas. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

U2's residency at the Sphere is incredibly successful ("U2's First Batch of Shows at the Sphere Generated Nearly $110 Million in Ticket Sales," Billboard).  From the article:

U2 wrapped the first leg of the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency on Nov. 4 with unprecedented box-office results. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, U2’s 17 Sphere shows in Las Vegas grossed $109.8 million and sold 281,000 tickets. 

Opening night at Sphere was Sept. 29. U2 played another show the next night, 12 more in October and three in the first week of November. The gross and attendance figures average out to $6.5 million and 16,500 tickets per show. The average ticket price across all shows was $390.97. 

U2 is scheduled to play eight more shows in December, kicking off on Friday night. There are 11 more dates lined up between Jan. 26 and Feb. 18. The 19 shows on the books could generate another $120 million, pushing the residency to about $330 million in less than five months. Only Dion’s A New Day… would remain ahead in terms of all residencies in Boxscore history.

The only thing is few bands can pull this off.  U2 is one.