Sphere Entertainment Co.

Good morning. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Sphere Entertainment Co. Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, Investor Relations. Ari, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Sphere Entertainment's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call will begin with our executive chairman and CEO, Jim Dolan, who will provide an update on our business. Robert Langer, our executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, will then review our financial results for the period. After our prepared remarks, we'll 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 four and five 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. For today's call, I'd like to discuss our progress in two important areas of the business, expanding the Sphere venue footprint around the world and developing a diverse slate of original content. In Abu Dhabi, we recently announced Sphere site location on Yaz Island. Construction for Sphere is now underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2029. Here in the U.S., we continue to advance our plans for Sphere at National Harbor. We expect to complete an agreement for third-party financing in the near term. This funding would be in addition to $200 million in state, local, and private incentives. The contemplated structure would give us full operational control of the venue day to day. This would also allow us to consolidate the venue's financials and retain more of its economics. In addition, we recently filed our detailed site plan with Prince George's County As we work towards securing necessary permits, we continue to believe the venue could be open in under four years. We also remain in discussion with a significant number of markets regarding large and small-scale spheres. At the same time, we continue to focus on developing a diverse slate of original experiences. Last month, we announced a new experience, the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Sphere, which we expect to debut in 2027. Bringing this production to Sphere will expand our content slate to a new genre. It also allows us to extend Sphere experience showings later into the evening, increasing the utilization of the venue. Meanwhile, The Wizard of Oz at Sphere has now sold nearly 3.6 million tickets for approximately $450 million in ticket sales. We also remain in discussion with IP holders for other potential Sphere experiences. We will keep you updated on our progress. Turning briefly to MSG Networks. Yesterday, we announced the partnership making DAZN our exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home. We believe both our subscribers and content will benefit from DAZN's state-of-the-art platform. We have also continued to reduce the amount of debt at MSG Networks, which was down to $116 million at quarter end. As a reminder, That debt is non-recourse to Sphere. So in summary, we are advancing plans across key areas of our business as we make headway towards our long term vision for a global network of Sphere venues. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Robert, who will take you through our financial results.

Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. For the two-quarter, it generated total company revenues of $313.6 million and adjusted operating income of $50.9 million. Our Sphere segment generated revenues of $226.4 million, an increase of nearly 30% compared to the prior year period. This growth was mainly driven by the Sphere experience, primarily reflecting higher partial revenues for the business of Oz at Sphere. As Jim mentioned, Wizard of Oz is performing well as it nears its one-year anniversary. We also continue to work on both the Wizard of Oz 2.0, an enhanced version of the production, as well as on From the Edge. Turning back to our results for the quarter, we also saw revenue growth in ExoSphere advertising, sponsorship and suite license fees, and concert residencies. This was partially offset by the impact of fewer brand events held at Sphere year over year. Second quarter adjusted operating income for our Sphere segment was $39.9 million as compared to $24.9 million in the prior year quarter. This reflected the increase in revenues, partially offset by higher SG&A expenses and direct operating expenses. The increase in direct operating expenses includes the impact of the visit of other Sphere, mainly a result of higher per show expenses. This was partially offset by lower expenses from brand events and other cost decreases. SG&A expenses for the second quarter were $125.6 million, an increase of $29.2 million. This increase includes the impact of mark-to-market adjustments for certain share-based compensation awards, driven by the appreciation in the company's stock price during the quarter. I would also note that we cash settled over half of these awards during the quarter. Therefore, all else being equal, the mark-to-market impact will be lessened in future periods. Turning to MSG Networks, the segment generated $87.3 million in revenues and $11 million in AOI in the second quarter. This compares to $107.1 million in revenues and $36.5 million in AOI in the prior year period. These year-over-year results reflect an approximately 16.5% decrease in subscribers as well as a decrease in advertising revenue. These results also reflect the impact of retroactive adjustments for the 2024-25 season recorded in the prior year's second quarter, related to amendments for media rights agreements with MSG Sports and certain other professional teams. Turning to our balance sheet, as of June 30th, our SPHERE business had approximately $534 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, $259 million in convertible debt, And the $275 million term loan related to Sphere in Las Vegas. At MSG Networks, as of June 30th, net debt was approximately $98 million. As Jim mentioned, this included $116 million outstanding on the MSG Networks term loan, which again, is debt that is recourse only to MSG Networks. And with that, we'll now open the call for questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of David Karnofsky with JP Morgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you. Jim, with Wizard of Oz, can you discuss how you see the progression of attendance from launch until now in terms of seasonality and maybe getting past that initial period of demand? And then how does that inform your view of the show from here as you lap the anniversary and look to put enhancements into the experience? Thank you.

Hi, David. How are you doing? Yeah, the show is performing very, very well. And, you know, it is subject to basically everything in Vegas' seasonality. And we're in the middle of summer, which is definitely the low season for it. But it's still doing very, very well. And I anticipate, you know, we could run Wizard of Oz for a long, long time And and do and do very well with it. But that's you know, our our plans really are to come out with the new version of Wizard of Oz sometime, we hope, in December, excuse me, September, not December. The and then, of course, the in March to add in Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will give us the ability to serve as families in the In the daytime and then, you know, a more adult audience in the evening. And I think that that's going to work very well. But, you know, I always look at, you know, if you take a look at the show O in Las Vegas, right, which has been running now for over 30 years. And, you know, it doesn't seem like the appetite And I think that Wizard of Oz could easily go 10 years playing in other spheres, occasionally playing in Vegas, et cetera. I think there's always going to be an audience for that product. And that's one of the reasons that we picked it was because it's so universally loved and it has tremendous legs. And we'll have some fun modifications and additions that we'll make for 2.0, including that you're going to go for a ride with a witch and new kinds of flying monkeys. So I think you're going to see that the product remains robust in its demand. And, you know, if I could make more Wizard of Oz's, Well, I definitely would.

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Steven Lasik with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Jim, you mentioned Rocky Horror represents a different genre of content for the sphere. It also gives you the opportunity to show content on a different schedule compared to what you've historically shown was. And I was wondering if you could maybe talk a little bit more about this, how investors should think about the role of complementary IP within the broader content strategy, as well as the opportunity it could afford you to increase show count over time at this year?

You know, look at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I think is going to be, I think it's going to be a smash. Just take a step to the left. It's a little like movie theaters in a way, in that the content fits the daytime and what time you're showing it, etc. But the whole business equation, the strategy here is to create reusable content that goes From sphere to sphere, et cetera. And nobody in Abu Dhabi has seen Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'm wondering how they're going to like that. And The Wizard of Oz. And the same thing is true of National Harbor, et cetera. So as we continue to build out spheres, our ability to create and monetize content also increases. And I really would like to get ahead of that as much as we can. Your next question comes from the line of Brandon Ross with LightShed. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thanks for taking the questions. Jim, regardless of the seasonality and whatever it is that's impacting Oz now, I think we can all agree it's been a pretty massive hit and the concert calendar in Vegas is already really full. So with that in mind, can you take a step back and talk about what the growth levers are for the Las Vegas sphere specifically in 2027 and beyond? Thanks.

Sure. You're right about concerts, right? As I've said in previous calls, right, that we're not shy of demand from artists to come play the sphere. And we have some great artists coming up, which I'm not going to tell you their names today. But, you know, the whole strategy, the business strategy behind The creation of Sphere is utilization of the venue. And that's where the growth, that's where we look at the growth to come, right? The, you know, Madison Square Garden, right, runs approximately 200 and something events a year. And the, it is hamstrung by the fact that you have to load in, you have to load out that the, it's, you know, it's different shows, but of course, the garden does very well. But When we created SPHERE and created the business model around it, it was all about increasing utilization and increasing utilization through our own IP and our own content. We're going to continue to pursue that. I don't think that we have refined the model to the point where we've maximized the revenue potential. Your next question comes from the line of Matt Condon with Citizens Bank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking the question. Jim, in terms of original content, do you have the capacity to take on additional projects? And has the time to market gotten shorter since the development of The Wizard of Oz? And just relatedly, how many sphere experiences could we expect to be playing in the venue by the end of 2027?

Okay, that's a good question. First part of it was, is really about how quickly we make, you know, how efficiently we make it. And we are definitely getting faster and becoming more efficient. And, you know, Rocky Horror, right, is a good example. I mean, Wizard of Oz really took two years to make. And Rocky Horror Picture Show is going to take less than 12 months. And we're getting better at it. Particularly when it comes to the use of AI and the production techniques that we developed for Wizard of Oz. So I expect that we'll be able to create more content at a less expensive and more efficient fashion. And that will bode well, of course, for Vegas, but for the other spheres. How many will we have by the end of 27? It's just a guess, Matt, but I'd say three to four.

Great. Thank you so much.

Your next question comes from the line of Ryan Sigdall with Craig Hallam. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys. Jim, on National Harbor, can you explain why you think the Opco model is advantageous versus a traditional franchise model? And then second to that, if you have interest in pursuing a similar structure for future spheres and if there could be situations where you'd maybe pursue multiple different operating models.

Okay. Well, look, I'll answer part of this. Digger will answer the other part of it. Do we think that National Harbor is the optimal model? I don't know. Look, it's the model that works for National Harbor. The idea here is to build as many of them as quickly as we can because that helps the overall business strategy. I'm going to let Digger talk about what we're thinking about with National Harbor.

Sure. As Jim mentioned, as we look at the overall expansion strategy, we analyze several financing structures. We see a number of benefits for what we call a build to suit and lease back structure for National Harbor, similar to a sale lease back, but it's really build to suit because it's new construction. First, the third party partner that would fund the total construction of the venue. While that third party will own the venue, we will enter into a long term lease and have day to day operational control of the venue, which we think is really important given our business in Las Vegas and leveraging off of our whole management team and operational structure. We'll also fully consolidate the National Harbor results in our financials. And I think most importantly, this type of financing will enable us to retain more of the AOI and also the potential upside in the future. And I think lastly, as Jim mentioned, as we look at other structures, it could be a combination. It could be a franchise strategy. It could be the build to suit. It could be a minority equity investment. It could also include debt structures. We really look at each one individually and look to maximize our returns.

I think the thing about these structures is that, A, we're looking to go fast and build as many as we can. And by utilizing multiple structures, our availability of capital, it's not unlimited, but it's quite robust. So that really helps us move the strategy along.

If I may ask one quick follow up on that. I mean, you own Vegas. MSG owns the garden. They've benefited from value appreciation of the real estate of the property. There's a ton of IP in the spheres, I guess. Why not self finance this if you want to operate and keep control of it?

We don't rule that out, right? I think you have to look at each project, right? I mean, look, if we were to build a sphere here in New York, I think the likelihood is we'd want to own it, maybe in conjunction with MSGE. But, you know, the thing is that, you know, our goal, as I said before, is to go fast, right, and to build as many as we can. You know, you got to take that into mind when you look at the structure, As many as I can build, I'm going to build. The capital is there. The goal is going to be the goal. It's going to be to go fast. I really want five, six years from now to have five venues up or more and have another five that are under construction. And if we can figure out how to construct them faster, which we are working on all the time, right, we'll do that too.

Helpful. Thanks, guys.

Your next question comes from the line of Peter Henderson with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning. First, let me congratulate you on the next championship, Jim. And then on Sphere, can you provide some Can you just provide some color on the progress of expansion discussions, and do you think there's a possibility that there's another expansion announcement coming in 2026, or is it more likely to be a 2027 event? Thank you.

Well, I'll answer the second part of it first. Yes, I'm hopeful. I think it's very possible we'll have another announcement this year. Pretty serious discussions with a couple of different marketplaces, etc. And so, you know, yes, I think we we we can get I think I think we'd be if it's not if it's not by the end of this year, certainly by the first quarter, I'll be disappointed if we don't have something, have another one by looking at my people telling another one to announce by my first quarter. So the And what was the first part of the question?

I was just congratulating on the Knicks championship. I know on the previous call you were concerned about SGA. You didn't have to worry about him.

All right. All of you New York-based analysts, et cetera, I will give you a little soundbite on the Knicks, right? We're going to have the most fun season as fans that we've ever had in my ownership, right, with the Knicks this upcoming. The team is coming back pretty much tomorrow. You know who they are now. You know each one of those personalities. You're going to be with them on every dribble, every basket, every free throw, etc. And it should just be a lot of fun. And if it turns out really well, we'll do another parade somewhere in New York.

Awesome. Looking forward to it. Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Peter Cepino with Wolf Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning. I wondered if you would update us on your capacity to develop new spheres and play the various consulting or principal roles that you would play in new spheres, whether they be franchised or owned. The bottom line is, can you still support the simultaneous development of five or six spheres, which I think was your vision in the past? And the second question just relates to National Harbor. Could you sort of take us on a history lesson of how your thinking about financing National Harbor has evolved? When we started, I think it was likely to be a version of a franchised arrangement, and now it sounds like a principal structure, and I'm wondering what you learned on that journey and what we can extrapolate to the future. Thanks.

Wow. Was there a question in there? I think you want to try this one?

Yeah, no problem. Look, in terms of expansion and the ability to work on five to six spheres simultaneously, as we said in prior calls, We have the capacity to do that. We have an in-house development and construction team that, as Jim mentioned, is not only working on the current ones we have. In Abu Dhabi, we consult on that build. They're obviously constructing it and building it, but we have a consulting team internal that's working on it because it's such a bespoke venue. Obviously, in National Harbor, our team will be building that, and we think they can obviously take on another two, three, four over the coming year and a half. As Jim mentioned, to have five spheres opened in five plus years is our goal, and to have other ones in construction at that time, we think we have the capacity to do that. With respect to your question on National Harbor and financing, I think we did answer that before. Look, the sale-leaseback structure that we're talking about, we think is the right one for National Harbor. With Abu Dhabi, the franchise model was the right one. Obviously, they are funding and they'll own the entire Uh, sphere in a market that's across the globe from us. We have a great partnership with them and we'll have franchise fees and royalties associated with it. So as we mentioned, it'll be market by market. I think domestically, you'll see much more of a, you know, probably owned or sale lease back with a full operational control. And internationally, it will depend on the market, uh, depending on whether, uh, you know, it's in the Middle East is different. We might look at it differently in Asia versus Europe. So we'll take each one. And again, as we mentioned before, from a financing perspective, it's all going to depend upon having the maximum ROI.

Yeah. In terms of the capacity to build, right, what's interesting to sort of look at is the difference between National Harbor and Abu Dhabi, right? What we're doing in Abu Dhabi is, you know, it's basically our design. Right and we're overseeing that the helping oversee the construction process but there is a general contractor there right the as there are general contractors all around the world right so our ability in terms of of accessing that part of the build right uh you know we're relying on the whole construction marketplace which you know i mean i think we'll you know It's robust. I mean, it's fine. If we had three or four spheres under construction, I would anticipate we'd have different general contractors, different local contractors, et cetera, and we'd be matching. The choke point for us going from Vegas to other spheres has been the design work and the whole The pipeline of going from materials to construction to labor, etc., and that's what we've been working on actually consistently since we opened up SPHERE. So we've settled down the model pretty well to things like a tech stack, right? It's the same tech stack in Abu Dhabi as it is in National Harbor as it was in Vegas, and it will be I think it's worth revisiting the question on National Harbor. There's a consensus among investors, or at least a view, that the strategy at National Harbor initially

I think that if you're looking at a cookie cutter approach to how we fund these things, I'm telling you that we're not going to use a cookie cutter approach.

We're going to look at each project. I love the idea of having local investors. They add to the overall think tank of each one of those projects. If you can find one that's strategic for you, for instance, in National Harbor, You know, they're not an investor, but we're right by the convention center and the hotel casino complex, etc. And that's strategic. So getting strategic investors helps, too. We're focused on, you know, getting as many of these started and built. And we're not, we are by no means, you know, tied, you know, wed to just one method of financing. We're going to keep looking at and taking advantage of whatever works best for that particular project in terms of financing. So looking at it and saying, well, they're only doing it this way, that's definitely not the case. We're going to be as efficient and as strategic with our capital as we can be as We always have been as a company.

Thanks, Peter. Operator, we have time for one last caller.

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of David Joyce with Seaport. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thank you. You had nice growth in the sponsorship signage and exosphere revenue line. What were some drivers there? And could you give us your thoughts on the momentum and the next few quarters outlook? Thanks.

I'm passing that one to my Chief Operating Officer, Jen. Thanks, Jim.

Thanks, David. So as you mentioned before, we did have significant growth in this category this quarter. And we're really seeing the momentum in the side of the business continue. I think in addition to, you know, growth opportunity in terms of venue utilization, we also see the exosphere and sponsorship business as a true growth driver for us in the next few quarters as well as into next year. You know, some of the things that we continue to drive the growth is, you know, we've got big brands coming in. Spending dollars with us for impactful moments. So large brands like Verizon coming in on the World Cup or Adobe coming in to do a takeover when they were in Vegas for their multi-day summit. We've got a very strong pipeline of official partnerships in the works. And what that means is we'll continue to secure more multi-year sponsorship deals. So I think we remain on track and growth for 26. And I think we've got good potential of pipeline deals for 27 to continue to drive growth.

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Ari for closing remarks.

Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to speaking with you on our third quarter earnings call. Have a good day.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.