Las Vegas Sphere is newest Super Bowl star

Las Vegas’ newest star attraction, the $2.3 billion Sphere, is wowing football fans with a variety of Super Bowl-themed content as Sunday’s showpiece game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs approaches.

The giant glowing orb has been displaying the helmets of both teams, graphics about the matchup and a countdown clock to kickoff on its fully programmable LED exterior, known as the “exosphere”.

“Oh my gosh. It’s almost like 3D,” Jill Hitchcock, a coder from California, told Reuters while taking in the Sphere at night.

“(Chiefs quarterback) Patrick Mahomes throwing the football and then it’s like coming right at you. It’s amazing. You used to have to wear the (3D) glasses. I think it’s the shape of the dome. It gives you that 3D appearance. So it’s really cool.”

Throughout the game, content on the exosphere will run live and response to action on the field and the futuristic structure will be featured during the CBS broadcast.

Maureen Nasiak, a nurse from Las Vegas, said she was driving around and decided to get a closer look at the 366-feet tall and 516-feet wide arena, which has been billed as the world´s largest spherical structure.

“We saw the lights and the different kinds of animation,” she said. “So we got excited and now it’s a new attraction in Vegas.”

Guy Barnett, senior vice president of brand strategy and creative development at MSG Sphere, said companies have been eager to advertise on the exosphere.

“It’s the chance for a brand to really lean into a cultural moment,” he said in an interview.

“It’s the chance for a brand to make the biggest and boldest of statements on the newest, most fantastic building in the world.”

Barnett was coy when asked what fans could expect the Sphere to display on Super Bowl Sunday.

“Part of our strategy is always to surprise and delight people and give them the unexpected,” he said.

“Lots to come, most of which I can’t talk about.”