Mayweather-Pacquiao 2: A Guide to the Sphere in Las Vegas
With Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 confirmed for September 19, the Sphere in Las Vegas will host its first professional boxing event. Floyd Mayweather Jr. headlined twelve events at the MGM Grand Garden Arena over the course of his career, generating an estimated $201 million in combined live gates. The Sphere is a different kind of venue. Here is what it is, what it does, and what has already been tested there.
The Screen
The interior of the Sphere is wrapped in a continuous LED display spanning 160,000 square feet of curved surface. The screen runs at 16K resolution — the highest-resolution LED screen in the world, roughly sixteen times the pixel density of a standard 1080p HD broadcast. Most arena jumbotrons display at 720p or 1080p on a flat screen mounted above the action. The Sphere’s screen surrounds the audience on all sides and overhead, filling the entire interior dome.
There is no single focal point for video content. A fan in the upper rows sees imagery at the same resolution and scale as someone near the floor. During UFC 306 in September 2024, the production team used the screen to display full-environment “worlds” — immersive backdrops that changed between bouts and surrounded the audience during the fights themselves.
For a boxing event, the screen could be used for ring walk visuals, replays across the full dome surface, and between-round graphics. How the September 19 production team chooses to use it has not been detailed publicly.
The Audio
The Sphere’s sound system uses more than 160,000 individually amplified speakers arranged throughout the venue’s interior. The system is designed for spatial audio — sound placed in three-dimensional space around the audience. A speaker behind a fan’s left ear can deliver a different signal than the speaker behind the right ear, creating directional sound that moves through the room.
Standard arena audio pushes sound outward from a central PA system. Everyone hears the same mix at different volumes depending on distance from the speakers. The Sphere’s system can deliver different audio experiences to different sections simultaneously, or create the sensation of sound moving across the room in sync with on-screen content.
In a combat sports setting, the system could be used to isolate and spatially position ambient fight sounds — punches landing, footwork on canvas, corner instructions. Whether that level of audio integration is part of the September 19 production plan has not been announced.
The Seats
The Sphere is equipped with haptic seating — chairs capable of delivering vibration, motion, and tactile feedback synchronized with content. During UFC 306, the haptic system was active during the fights. The technology translates on-screen or in-venue action into a physical sensation in the seat. The production team controls what triggers the haptics and at what intensity.
Seated capacity runs between 17,500 and 18,600 depending on configuration. That is comparable to the MGM Grand Garden Arena (16,800) and T-Mobile Arena (20,000). The Sphere does not offer a significant increase in ticket inventory over the venues boxing already uses in Las Vegas. The difference is that every seat is surrounded by the LED screen and covered by the spatial audio and haptic systems. There is no diminished upper-level experience in the way that traditional arenas have tiered sightlines and sound quality.
What UFC 306 Established
Dana White and the UFC staged the first live sporting event at the Sphere on September 14, 2024. The card, branded as Riyadh Season Noche UFC, was a celebration of Mexican combat sports heritage. Director Glenn Weiss, whose credits include the Oscars and Emmys, helped produce cinematic interludes that played across the full interior screen between bouts. Each fight was staged within a different immersive visual environment.
The production cost roughly $20 million, according to Sportico, compared to the approximately $2 million the UFC typically spends on a pay-per-view event. The live gate was $21.8 million — the highest in UFC history, surpassing UFC 205’s previous record of $17.7 million. The event also set records for VIP experience sales, merchandise, and sponsorship revenue, and later won two Sports Emmy Awards.
White has said the UFC will not return to the Sphere. The promotion’s exclusive deal with MGM for Las Vegas events made UFC 306 a one-off. “Tonight was meant to happen,” White told reporters at the post-fight press conference. “It happened, we did it, we killed it.”
The event answered the basic logistical questions about the venue’s viability for combat sports. The layout accommodated a combat sports setup. The sightlines functioned. The technology integrated with a live sporting event without interfering with the competition.
The Production Team
UFC 306 was produced by TKO’s in-house team, which spent months developing custom content for the Sphere’s screen. The Mayweather-Pacquiao event has a different production structure. The event is being produced by EverWonder Studio, Hidden Empire Film Group, and Limitless X Holdings, and promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Manny Pacquiao Promotions in partnership with CSI Sports/Fight Sports.
Netflix’s announcement stated the production will utilize “the venue’s advanced technologies to provide fans with an immersive experience unlike any other in boxing history.” Specific production details — what content will fill the screen during ring walks and between rounds, whether the haptic and spatial audio systems will be fully integrated — have not been released.
The Financial Context
Staging an event at the Sphere carries production costs well above a standard arena booking. White’s UFC 306 budget of $20 million was ten times the promotion’s normal pay-per-view spend. A boxing event with comparable production ambition would face similar costs on top of venue rental and custom LED content creation.
Mayweather’s twelve headlining events at the MGM Grand produced gates ranging from $7.4 million (against Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009) to $72.2 million (against Pacquiao in 2015). The Conor McGregor fight in 2017, held at T-Mobile Arena, produced a gate of approximately $55.4 million. The Sphere’s comparable seat count means the per-ticket average would need to be high to offset the production premium. UFC 306’s $21.8 million gate across roughly 20,000 seats suggests the market will support elevated pricing at the venue.
Netflix is streaming the event globally to 325-plus million subscribers at no additional cost — a significant shift from the traditional pay-per-view model that priced the first Mayweather-Pacquiao fight at $99.95 per household. That accessibility adds a revenue layer built on subscriber growth and retention rather than per-buy sales, a model that did not exist during Mayweather’s PPV-era peak. The platform paid a reported rights fee in excess of $50 million for the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson card in November 2024.
Where It Fits
Boxing in Las Vegas has moved through a series of venues over the past five decades. The outdoor arena at Caesars Palace hosted the sport’s signature events through the 1980s. The MGM Grand became the default home of championship boxing from the mid-1990s through Mayweather’s prime. T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016 and has hosted major cards including Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin.
The Sphere, which opened in September 2023, is the newest addition to that landscape. It is the first Las Vegas venue to offer immersive technology as a core part of the live event experience rather than an add-on. September 19 will be the first test of whether that technology translates to professional boxing, and whether the venue becomes part of the sport’s regular rotation in Las Vegas or remains a one-off setting, as it was for the UFC.
