Achtung baby, indeed!
The grand opening of James Dolan’s Las Vegas Sphere, featuring rock legends U2, over the weekend proved to be a big hit on stage — and for the entertainment mogul’s bottom line.
Shares of Sphere Entertainment, the holding company formed in April to combine Sphere and Madison Square Garden Networks, soared 15% at Monday’s opening bell before closing the day at a robust 12%.
The stock closed at $41.29 — up from $37.32 on Friday.
The Post has sought comment from Sphere Entertainment.
It was a welcome bit of financial relief for Dolan — who owns the Knicks and Rangers — and Sphere shareholders after the massive $2.3 billion it cost to build the state-of-the-art venue.
The grand opening finally arrived after construction costs nearly doubled over the last three years.
But a packed house of roughly 18,000 fans — among them Hollywood celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Jeff Bezos, LeBron James, Jon Hamm, Aaron Paul, and Bryan Cranston — filed into the venue near the Venetian Resort on Friday to take in “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere.”
The Sphere boasts a 160,000 square-foot domed-wraparound interior and exterior LED display and has roughly 1,600 loudspeakers to create a one-of-a-kind immersive experience.
In February, The Post was the first to report that Dolan agreed to pay U2 an eye-popping $10 million fee to christen the Sphere.
The Irish rockers also stand to pocket more than 90% of the earnings from ticket sales, sources told The Post.
The iconic Irish rock band — which features lead singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr — has another 24 shows planned for the Sphere as part of a residency.
The band is without Mullen, who is recovering from injuries. Bram van den Berg is sitting in for the drummer during the course of the residency.
Dolan is reportedly banking on booking between four and six residency headliners a year — though attracting them to the venue could prove challenging considering the magnitude of staging such an immersive production.
The MSG boss has struggled to line up corporate sponsors for the venue — fueling concerns that he would be unable to offset losses from expensive deals to perform at the orb.
Last month, The Post reported that Dolan teamed with former business partner Irving Azoff to create a new company, Crown Properties Collection, to handle sponsorship deals for Dolan’s entire Madison Square Garden empire.
Dolan, the billionaire cable TV scion who owns the Knicks, the Rangers, Radio City Music Hall, and other venues, is said to be seeking around $40 million per year for the naming rights to the Sphere, people in the know told The Post.
Additional Reporting by Josh Kosman
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