Sphere Entertainment Co.

Oh, and thank you for standing by. My name is Regina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Sphere Entertainment Co. Fiscal 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ari Daines, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Sphere Entertainment's fiscal 2024 third quarter earnings conference call. Today's call will begin with our executive chairman and CEO, Jim Dolan, who will provide an update on Sphere. Dave Burns, our executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer, will then review our financial results for the period. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. If you do not have a copy of today's earnings release, it is available in the investor section of our corporate website. Please take note of the following. Today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion of risks and uncertainties. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call. On pages five and six of today's earnings release, we provide consolidated statements of operations and a reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, or AOI, a non-GAAP financial measure. And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Jim.

Thank you, Ari, and good morning, everyone. As you know, SPHERE was built with the idea of disrupting the traditional venue model. We saw this thesis begin to play out in the December quarter. Today, we reported results for our second full quarter of operations in Las Vegas. And while it is still early days, we're pleased with our progress and remain optimistic about our vision for this new medium. For the third quarter, SPHERE welcomed nearly 1 million guests to more than 270 events. This event volume once again far exceeded the world's busiest venues. It also drove robust revenue and positive adjusted operating income for the SPHERE segment for the second consecutive quarter. These results were led by the SPHERE experience featuring Postcards from Earth. Since its October debut, the signature content category has already generated over $200 million in revenue. That includes more than $1 million in average daily ticket sales in both the second and third quarters. These results reinforce our belief in the value of original content. And we are now developing new cinematic offerings to strengthen this core category. On the concert front, headline acts are seeing the advantages advantages of performing at Sphere. U2's 40-show run grew an audience on par with a national arena tour. Phish sold out its four nights in less than one hour. And Dead & Co. has already extended their upcoming residency. When we first launched Sphere, we outlined three content categories as the foundation for its business. Original content, concerts and residencies, and marquee sports and corporate events. We are now looking forward to our first corporate keynote event with Hewlett Packard next month. This event will showcase how the venue's technology and offerings provide a compelling platform to educate and demonstrate. We believe that this corporate category will become an important and growing component for us. Our overall business strategy also focuses on maximizing venue utilization. Later in June, SPHERE will welcome the NHL Draft, which will be the first live event televised from inside the venue. Over this multi-day run, we will also show the SPHERE experience, demonstrating our ability to efficiently host multiple event types on the same day. In addition, we continue to explore other event types, such as EDM shows that can run on the same day as original content. Turning to the Exosphere, Advertisers continue to see significant value in this platform. This is especially true during tentpole events in Las Vegas. We had two great examples this past quarter, the Consumer Electronics Show in January, followed by the Super Bowl in February. As we look ahead, we remain focused on exploring ways to maximize the potential sphere, not only in Las Vegas, but also around the world. Expansion discussions with international markets are progressing, and we look forward to sharing more in the future. So we're pleased with our results this past quarter and are confident in our plans for this next generation medium. With that, I will now turn the call over to Dave.