Inside Sphere is a 160,000-square-foot LED screen that wraps around the venue and has served as the canvas for larger-than-life visualsJEFF BOTTARI FOR NHL
Las Vegas has become a “prime location” for the NHL’s premier events, and the latest takeover happens this week -- headlined by Friday and Saturday's 2024 Entry Draft, which will “become the
first sports-related and live-televised event in the history of Sphere,” according to Jack Williams of the LAS VEGAS SUN. It also might be the NHL’s “
final centralized draft.” The NHL “didn’t have to think too hard about where to hold the de facto send-off event.” It was back to Las Vegas, where the league has repeatedly put on its “biggest shows over the last 15 years.” NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer said that the league “keeps coming back and reasserting its commitment to the city” because the latter has never let the former down. Mayer described a “bond, belief and trust” in the two sides that predates the Golden Knights but has been “strengthened by the franchise’s unprecedented success.” The NHL Awards has “bounced around town,” and the event “will mark another one off the list on June 27 when the show is held at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.” Mayer: “We've done some really amazing creative things over the years” (
LAS VEGAS SUN, 6/24).
RELATED: NHL reveals first Sphere images ahead of historic Draft
SPHERE SPECTACLE: In Las Vegas, Danny Webster wrote the Golden Knights have “been at the epicenter of almost all the NHL’s major events.” They have hosted an expansion draft and an All-Star Weekend, taken part in two Stanley Cup Finals and participated in their first outdoor Winter Classic this year. The Knights can “now add the NHL draft to their list.” Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz said, “Our hockey group is excited because it’s another opportunity for us as an organization to show off Las Vegas and what a great hockey town it’s become.” The NFL drew more than 300,000 fans over three days in April 2022 for the NFL Draft. Webster noted the NHL “won’t bring in as large of crowd,” but the league “hopes it will make up for that by providing one of the most unique viewing experiences for a draft ever.” Timing also “played a role” in the event coming to the Sphere, as the NHL season will not end until tonight following Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The start of free agency is July 1. The NHL “wanted to make sure the draft took place between those two dates.” Using T-Mobile Arena was also difficult because UFC 303 is scheduled for Saturday (
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/23).
