Key Takeaways
- Ticket Sales: Sphere Entertainment Co. achieved over $290 million in ticket sales for The Wizard of Oz at Sphere last year.
- Profitability: The company reported a profit of $33.4 million for 2025, reversing a previous loss.
- Future Expansion: A second Sphere venue is planned to open outside Washington, D.C., by 2030.
- Global Vision: CEO James Dolan emphasized that success in Las Vegas serves as a blueprint for future global endeavors.
Sphere Entertainment Co. reported this week that ticket sales for immersive experience The Wizard of Oz at Sphere topped $290 million last year, helping the company chart its first profitable year after launching the Las Vegas venue in 2023.
More than 2.2 million tickets were sold to the Sphere’s version of the 1939 classic Judy Garland film, which has been remastered and enhanced for Sphere’s one-of-a-kind visual and sound system.
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Overall, the company reported that sales of tickets to Oz and residencies by acts including Dead & Company, Eagles, Anyma, Kenny Chesney and Backstreet Boys helped boost gross revenue 8% to $1.2 billion and reverse a loss in 2024 to generate a profit of $33.4 million for 2025.
“Our success in Las Vegas is an important blueprint for our global vision,” Sphere CEO James Dolan said on a call discussing the company’s 2025 earnings.
Dolan said the company took another step toward accomplishing that vision — to install a global network of Sphere venues — with the announcement last month that a second U.S. Sphere will open outside of Washington, D.C., by 2030.
Located in National Harbor, Maryland, the mini Sphere will have 6,000 seats compared to the Las Vegas Sphere’s 20,000 seats and is expected to cost around $1 billion to build. State and local public funding is expected to offset that cost by about $200 million, Dolan said. The company expects to be able to lure ticket-buyers from the some 15 million tourists who visit National Harbour annually for business and conventions.
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The company also said its development partners in Abu Dhabi are close to finalizing a location for the large Sphere being planned there.
For the 12 months ending Dec. 31, Sphere Entertainment reported an operating loss of $229.6 million, which was a 38%, or $143 million, improvement from 2024. Adjusted operating income rose 138% to $261.8 million compared to 2024.
Ticket sales from some 880 showings of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, which debuted on Aug. 28, 2025, along with older Sphere Experience films Postcard from Earth and V-U2 An Immersive Concert Film, helped contribute a nearly $104,000 increase in annual revenue — roughly two-thirds of the overall increase in company revenues.
Elsewhere, revenue at MSG Networks — which includes the company’s regional and sports entertainment networks MSG Network, MSG Sportsnet and its streaming offering MSG+ — fell 15% to $438.6 million compared to a year ago on fewer subscribers.
Revenue from sponsorship, signage, suite license fees and advertising on the Sphere Las Vegas’ 580,000 square foot “Exosphere” — the largest LED screen in the world — was $9,400 less in 2025 than the year prior. The company did announce an official partnership with Delta Air Lines in January, with the Delta SKY360° Club to be the Sphere’s first branded hospitality space.
