
UFC 306 at The Sphere: MSG Entertainment's Joel Fisher Goes Inside the Venue's First Live Sports Event Next-gen technology will be deployed to create a different kind of live-event experience By Jason Dachman
Thursday, September 12, 2024 - 3:24 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
On Saturday night, a new era in live sports television will dawn with the first-ever live sports event to be hosted at The Sphere in Las Vegas. UFC 306: Noche UFC is being dubbed a once-in-a-lifetime immersive sporting event that will deploy Sphere's next-gen tech to create an entirely different kind of live-event experience. Following more than a year of planning and collaboration between the UFC and the venue's owner, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Saturday night's event will finally bring the power of The Sphere to sports events.
MSG Entertainment's Joel Fisher: This combination of entertainment and the sporting event itself is harnessing the enormous power of technology and creating this transformative environment.
UFC President/CEO Dana White, who says the event cost $20 million to produce, calls UFC 306 a love letter to Mexico and a tribute to the Mexican people for their contributions to combat sports. In celebration of Mexican Independence Day, UFC has created a series of films that will take over the 160,000-sq.-ft., 16Kx16K-resolution interior display plane during the event. In addition to the world's highest-resolution LED display and advanced concert-grade audio system, fans inside The Sphere will be able to actually feel the action, thanks to the venue's haptic seats, which provide force feedback based on the action in the Octagon. In addition, the Exosphere will be used throughout the night with key art and highlights to bring fans closer to the event, while in-house stats and information feeds integrate real-time stats and fighter information on the interior display plane of Sphere.
In anticipation of this historic production, SVG sat down with Joel Fisher, EVP, marquee events and operations, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, to discuss how UFC came to be the first sport to take place in The Sphere, his company's collaborative relationship with White and the UFC, what fans can expect inside - and outside - the venue on Saturday night, the key differences between presenting a U2 concert experience and a sports event at The Sphere, and what other sports he expects to welcome to the venue in the future.
How did the initial idea for this event came about?
We [at Madison Square Garden] have a long history with the UFC, including helping them get sanctioned for the first event in New York with UFC 205. We invited Dana [White] to see U2 at The Sphere, and he was absolutely blown away. He called me the next day to say UFC wanted to be the first live sporting event in The Sphere. That was the beginning of months of conversations and planning.
Once the event was finalized, what did the early planning stages look like?
We all agreed that, if we were going to do this and do it right, we needed to plan well in advance and have a unified vision of what this was going to look like. About a year ago, I met with Craig Borsari [chief content officer/executive producer] and Pete Dropick [EVP, event development and operations] during a Top Rank boxing event at [Madison Square] Garden, and we worked closely together from that point forward to ensure that everything was perfect.
The Sphere was a vision directly from our Chairman/CEO Jim Dolan. He wanted to create this new medium that disrupted the traditional venue model and shook up an industry that hasn't been innovated in a long time. To be able to deliver the first live sporting event and broadcast it to the world - there will be as many as a billion people watching - is very exciting for both us and UFC.
What will the experience be like for fans on Saturday night?
The experience starts before you've even entered [the venue] because we have the exosphere, which creates a one-of-a-kind visual experience. Once you get into the building, fans will be able to explore and interact with immersive-technology experiences in the Atrium. The UFC is taking over the entire Atrium and decorating it around the theme of Mexican Independence Day. The second you walk in, you'll feel that you're immersed in this special event, including a mariachi band and a variety of content on the different displays.
We also have plenty of exciting moments leading up to the fight. On Thursday, we are doing the press conference right outside in one of the parking lots with The Sphere as the background. On Friday, they will do the weigh-in outside in front of The Sphere with UFC creative [content] on the exosphere. UFC is also doing a fan fest starting on Friday and running through the pre-fight preparations on Saturday.
On fight night, fans are going to experience something that literally has never been seen before in sports. We've worked with UFC on six films that will be [displayed] on our incredible 16K media plane. These interstitials will be seen throughout the night between the fights and will provide a tribute to Mexico and their history and fighting in MMA. It should be incredible. I've been fortunate to see a lot of the storyboards and content that they're presenting, and it's going to be a genuine spectacle.
We also have an audio system that is unlike anything else you've ever heard, as well as haptic seats so that [fans] will actually feel it when somebody gets hit or hits the canvas. People inside the building are going to get this overall experience that you simply cannot match in a regular venue.
What are the major differences between presenting a concert or entertainment event at The Sphere and producing a sports event? What are the primary factors you have to co
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Thomson and the Center for News, Technology and Innovation (CNTI) convened a two-day workshop in Sarajevo bringing together more than 35 journalists, editors, p...
11/12/2025
ESPN's Aims for Spectacular With Heisman Trophy ShowEvent firsts include 1080p HDR production airing on both national broadcast and cableBy Dan Daley, Audio...
11/12/2025
SVG Students To Watch: Frankie Patton, University of ColoradoThe 2025 grad is hitting the ground running as a PA on national broadcastsBy Brandon Costa, Directo...
11/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 3By SVG Staff
Thursday, December 11, 2025 - 7:24 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2...
11/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: What Makes Gen Z, X, and Y Fans Tick? Dave Gavant of WSC Sports Go...
11/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: 5G, MXL, Spectrum Loss, and Outerspace on Tap for Tues...
11/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: David Levy, Turner Titan and Master of Al...
11/12/2025
SVG Launches Follow the Money' Podcast: Go Inside the Sports Media Biz with...
11/12/2025
A Deep Dive Inside Game Creek Video's Bird and Magic Mobile Units, Home to A...
11/12/2025
How Sound Effects for Monsters Funday Football' Emulated the Sonic Soul of ...
11/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CSP Mobile Productions' Len Chase on Upgrading Tr...
11/12/2025
Having the right song soundtrack your moves can make all the difference when gam...
11/12/2025
It's been a big year for Taylor Swift. Her highly anticipated album The Life...
11/12/2025
New satellites for the SDA Tranche 1 Tracking program in production at L3Harris&...
11/12/2025
The Meadowlands system, a compact and mobile version of the CCS, uses ground-based radio frequency units to disrupt satellite communications....
11/12/2025
The L3Harris demonstration united tactical communications devices, counter-UAS c...
11/12/2025
Throughout 2025, L3Harris delivered innovative solutions to U.S. and allied warfighters across every domain.
With an unrelenting commitment to excellence, our...
11/12/2025
A Majority of the World's Population (51%) Identify As Soccer Fans
The 2025 MLB postseason notched 58.2 billion viewing minutes, up +24% from the prior y...
11/12/2025
WALTHAM, Mass. Video-over-IP software provider Zixi said Roi Sasson has joined the company as vice president, engineering....
11/12/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. In a move that highlights the growing competition between broadcasters and CTV platforms for local advertising, LG Ad Solutions has announ...
11/12/2025
Boston Conservatory Earns Several Best of Accolades in 2025 Highlights include a faculty Grammy win, a seventh consecutive year on Playbill's list of co...
11/12/2025
RASTATT, Germany Lawo and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) have partnered to launch the SMPTE ST 2110 Practical Lab, an immersive ...
11/12/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcasts Xfinity operating brand has announced the launch of new national video plans with all-in pricing that the operator said will provide custo...
11/12/2025
After eight years of declines, MoffettNathansons new Cord Cutting Monitor for Q3 2025 shows that pay TV subscribers to linear TV packages rose by 303,000, the f...
11/12/2025
Happy Holidays from Berklee Enjoy this years holiday student-performance video.
December 10, 2025
By
Office of the President
Dear Berklee community,
As w...
11/12/2025
11 Dec 2025
VEON's Banglalink Receives Regulatory Approval to Launch Digita...
11/12/2025
Thursday 11 December 2025
Sky Arts paints a picture of Britain's beauty as ...
11/12/2025
Back to All News
Meet the Most Relatable Hero This Holiday: Main Trailer and Po...
11/12/2025
Back to All News
High Tides: Netflix Shares Release Date Final Season
Credit: Netflix / Thomas Nolf
Entertainment
11 December 2025
GlobalNetherlandsBelgium...
11/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in Texas: How Netflix House Dallas Is Leaving a Lasting Footprint
From left to right: America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerl...
11/12/2025
Back to All News
The Second Part of One Hundred Years of Solitude Will Arrive i...
11/12/2025
It's not every day we're asked to create a website for a classical musician!
So, we were delighted to help pianist Georgina Duncan as she embarks on he...
11/12/2025
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today announced additional programm...
11/12/2025
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Irish golfing hero Shane Lowry...
11/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier ti...
11/12/2025
Hunters, saddle up - adventure awaits in the cloud.
Journey into the world of M...
11/12/2025
Sash is ready to samba as Fair City star Stephanie Kelly is revealed as the late...
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
10/12/2025
Sound-Alike Commercials Are Part of Sports' Soundtrack Johnny Cash for Coca-Cola is the latest in a long litany of sonic approximationsBy Dan Daley, Audio ...
10/12/2025
Immersive Sound Is Logical Next Step for Sports VenuesSound-systems suppliers are sanguine, but the market has its challengesBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednes...
10/12/2025
The Romans Built Arenas for Immersive Sound 2,000 Years AgoThe historic Arena of Nimes in France is still in use todayBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, De...
10/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Audio Workshop Hits on Immersive, Virtualized, and Next...
10/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview: Audio SpotlightBy SVG Staff
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 - 8:21 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlig...
10/12/2025
SVG Europe Audio: Listening to the sounds of powder and ice at Milano Cortina wi...
10/12/2025
Advancements in audio technology: Capturing the atmosphere of live sports By David Davies
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 09:27
Print This Story
Although wor...
10/12/2025
Everything smelled of popcorn: The art of bringing the complex sound of esports ...
10/12/2025
Top L-R: Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, Hanging by a Wire, Broken English, Buddy
C...
10/12/2025
For the first time, Spotify is giving users the power to steer the algorithm. Gustav S derstr m, Spotify's Co-President, CPO, and CTO, shares the vision beh...
10/12/2025
L3Harris' new contract for Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Insensitive ...
10/12/2025
L3Harris Meadowlands system has been designed with an open architecture software system that allows for more flexible and efficient software updates. This capab...