Since its dazzling start celebrating the Fourth of July, Sphere in Las Vegas has continued to redefine entertainment and showcase its advertising prowess. While being an impressive concert venue, Sphere is also the hottest billboard in town. And it only got hotter when the Super Bowl came to Sin City.

Sphere sits east of the Venetian Resort complex, and its massive spherical display is hard to miss. Sphere’s exterior, known as the Exosphere, is the largest LED screen on Earth, consisting of approximately 1.2 million LED pucks spaced eight inches apart. Each puck contains 48 individual LEDs, with each diode capable of displaying 256 million colors – creating a vivid landmark on the Las Vegas skyline.

As Super Bowl LVIII week kicked off, Las Vegas's newest star attraction wowed football fans with a variety of Super Bowl-themed content leading up to and during the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. The Las Vegas Sphere displayed custom-made content created exclusively by Sphere Studios. Sphere Studios is a creative division of Sphere Entertainment Co., the company behind Sphere, the world’s largest and most advanced venue in Las Vegas.

Sphere’s 366-foot tall, 516-foot wide visage displayed both teams’ helmets, graphics about the matchup, and a countdown clock to kick off on its fully programmable LED exterior. The previous 57 Super Bowl rings were even featured, giving fans on the ground in Las Vegas an opportunity to pose in front of their team’s ring. Every championship ring was accounted for, from the Green Bay Packers in the original Super Bowl in 1967 to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.

During the game, the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII was shown on the Exosphere. Content on Sphere responded in real-time to the action on the field between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Sphere was also featured in CBS Sports' coverage of Super Bowl LVIII on CBS and Paramount+. Both the Exosphere and the interior of Sphere were featured as part of two curated moments in custom, one-of-a-kind videos filmed at the venue that showcase the immersive capabilities of Sphere’s 16K x 16K resolution interior display plane. The Sphere’s interior appeared in the game’s introduction, and the Exosphere made various cameos throughout the broadcast.

"Part of our strategy is always to surprise and delight people and give them the unexpected," said Guy Barnett, senior vice president of brand strategy and creative development at Sphere, in this Reuters article.

In addition to custom NFL and Super Bowl content, some of the world's largest brands displayed advertisements on the Exosphere throughout Super Bowl Week. Brands on Las Vegas’s massive, round billboard included Pepsi, Hellmann’s, and the NFL itself.

Pepsi, which recently announced a partnership with Sphere, promoted its Wild Cherry flavor ahead of the Super Bowl, showcasing the can and “filling” the orb with the drink. The brand also worked with magician and influencer Zach King to create a video that makes it look like King is drinking Pepsi directly from Sphere.

According to Campaign US, Paramount purchased 40% of Sphere’s inventory leading up to the Super Bowl, running ads for Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS Sports, and Nickelodeon. Other major advertisers included Bud Light, FedEx, Adidas, Verizon, and Lowes.

So, what’s coming up for Sphere? The first-ever residency at Sphere is set to wrap up in less than a month. U2 will conclude its run at the world’s most viral venue on March 2, 2024. After that, Phish will play four nights from April 18-21. Dead & Company is then set to take over on May 16, playing through June 22. But that leaves 143 days between the end of their run and the end of the year. According to James Dolan, CEO of Sphere Entertainment, the venue won’t be vacant. He has teased additional residencies and expects that 2025 will be fully booked as well. Dana White also vows to put on the greatest live sporting of all time when the UFC holds a full card at Sphere on Mexican Independence Day. That is one of the events already in the books. It will be exciting to see what else Sphere does next as it continues to elevate experiences!