
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
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
11/09/2026
Calrec will introduce two new products at IBC2026 (Stand 8.C47, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14): the Type RT broadcast production console and the Apex M6 Modula...
11/09/2026
Grass Valley has announced AVORA, a standalone all-in-one live production solution launching at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01 and IBC Future Tech Zone, Stand 14.C49, Sep...
11/09/2026
CAMB.AI is introducing its Streaming SDK and Streaming Dashboard at IBC2026, wit...
11/09/2026
EVS has announced XT-S, a software-defined server platform that runs multiple live production applications on a common hardware foundation. The platform debuts ...
11/09/2026
EKT is demonstrating a new Linux-based ATSC 3.0 set-top box at IBC2026. The second-generation product moves away from Android to reduce memory costs, with Linux...
11/09/2026
The Sennheiser Group will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Booth D50, September 11-14...
11/09/2026
ESPN's Monday Night Football will open its 2026-27 season with a new renditi...
11/09/2026
Dalet has announced an integration of NVIDIA's Synthetic Video Detector AI model into Dalet Flex, enabling media organizations to identify potentially AI-ge...
11/09/2026
The Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) will demonstrate Versatile Video Coding (VVC) capabilities at IBC2026 (Hall 2, Stand 2.B13), as the codec moves toward c...
11/09/2026
Sony will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 13, September 11-14), demonstrating products across live production, news, cinema, and immersive and spatial content workflow...
11/09/2026
Wave Central, a Domo Broadcast Company, has been named a recipient of a 2026 Tec...
11/09/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) is bringing a pair of workflow updates to IBC2026...
11/09/2026
iodyne will co-exhibit with Hedge at IBC2026 (Booth 7.A36, September 11-14) and appear across three additional partner booths, marking the first public demonstr...
11/09/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
11/09/2026
The network will phase in HDR crew by crew while expanding Next Gen Stats integration, SkyDry availability, and onsite studio shows...
11/09/2026
CAMB.AI is introducing its new Streaming SDK and Streaming Dashboard at IBC2026,...
11/09/2026
Massive host operation at Melbourne Cricket Ground featured 54 cameras, 25,000 ST 2110 flows, REMI studio production in Stamford, and global distribution to mor...
11/09/2026
Production Anywhere Remote Kit (PARK) & AR-fueled Stage B are two key pieces to ...
11/09/2026
By Ramona Flume and Lucy Spicer
There's a particular kind of magic that hap...
11/09/2026
By Jessica Herndon
The fall film season is kicking off, and Sundance Institute-...
11/09/2026
Spark series gains compact modelling stompbox
Positive Grid's Spark amps have become a popular part of the company's line-up, offering a convenient ...
11/09/2026
New flagship sequencing plug-in revealed
Rapid Flow have just launched a new 16-track sequencer plug-in which they say has been designed for total rhythmic...
11/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz unveils the air-cooled R&S TM1 medium-power UHF transmitter at I...
11/09/2026
FIFA World Cup 2026 and Peacock's Love Island USA' Power NBCU-Versant ...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Lightware has announced the launch of LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation) 2.0, a major upgrade to its built-in room automation platform, introducing impro...
11/09/2026
10 September 2026 - MusiMap, the B2B music intelligence company that is transforming how companies can harness the emotional power of music to reach consumers a...
11/09/2026
Matrox Video today announced an integration between Matrox ORIGIN and NVIDIA Holoscan for Media, enabling Matrox ORIGIN media services to be provisioned, config...
11/09/2026
Net Insight today announced that its cloud-native live media orchestration is now available through Oracle Cloud Marketplace, providing broadcasters, production...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Version 1.8 will bring advanced routing control, new workflow tools, boosted control panel flexibility and ease of integration into IP networks...
11/09/2026
Ikegami announces four additions its UNICAM XE range of 4K-UHD cameras with the introduction of the UHK-X700VN, UHK-X750VN, UHK-X600VN and UHK-X650VN. Developed...
11/09/2026
DHD.audio has chosen IBC2026 as the launch venue for a major new addition to its broadcast sound production platform: the MX3 console range. MX3 retains the mod...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/09/2026
New standalone solution gives production teams everything they need to create, produce and deliver live content from one flexible system.
Grass Valley today an...
11/09/2026
Recognition honors the development of FPV drone camera systems for live sports broadcast coverage
Wave Central, a Domo Broadcast Company that develops advanced...
11/09/2026
Teradek, the industry leader in zero-delay wireless video solutions, announced the launch of Bolt 7, which now includes a unified wireless video and data system...
11/09/2026
The ACT Entertainment tvONE and Green Hippo Pixel Academy has released its autumn course schedule, with hands-on training dates in September, October and Novemb...
11/09/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Transthyretin amyloid disease (ATTR) is a progressive, life-threatening condition caused when the protein transthyretin (TTR) breaks apart and aggr...