The 2024 NHL Draft is expected to be held at the Las Vegas Sphere from June 28-29, making it the first major sporting event staged at the âSin Cityâ venue. Thatâs roughly three months before UFC makes its Sphere debut with the upcoming âNocheâ card in September.
Contracts are expected to be signed in the coming weeks.
âI think itâll be pretty dramatic,â NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier this week. âIt will the first sporting event in the Sphere and I think itâll be a pretty-well viewed event both in terms of the draft itself and the viral use of the Sphere inside and outside using the globe. We think itâll be fun. We think itâll be dramatic and compelling.â
Las Vegas is home to the âGolden Knightsâ hockey team.
UFC is also based in Las Vegas and typically stages its pay-per-view (PPV) events at the nearby T-Mobile Arena, with âFight Nightâ cards being produced internally at APEX. Sphere, which opened last fall, has a seating capacity of 17,600 and boasts 167,000 speakers.
âI love challenges,â White said a few weeks back. âEverybody keeps saying to me, âI donât understand how youâre going to put the Octagon in there. I donât understand how youâre going to do this. I donât understand how youâre going to do that.â Iâm going to remember that I said this to you tonight: Iâm going to put on the greatest live combat sports show anybody has ever seen.â
The draft? LameâŚ
yeah I donât think the draft counts as a sports event.
Was about to ask if that place is big enough for a hockey rink
Came for this.
The draft?
This place is massive. But I donât think you can fit a rink down there without moving a bunch of seats.
Iâm not sold this place is really that special. Crazy this is the biggest event. Youâd think they would have huge events every weekend
Interesting. The NHL draft is the least interesting draft of the major sports. Most drafted will never play in the NHL. Those who do generally take a couple years before playing in the NHL. They also have the most boring personalities of any sport for the NHL draft.
That said hockey is my favorite league sport
Youâve never been there then.
This place is amazing with wild potential.
Itâs only just getting going.
I think the baseball draft is far worse.
dana needs nine months to figure out how to put the octagon in there
Iâve never seen it
I just know the NBA and NFL are much more interesting and I donât even watch those sports
I havenât seen it either, I just know that at least hockey has some guys that go straight into the league, stars even.
Baseball is I donât even know how many rounds. 10+? And even the top guys will be high schoolers and shit that wonât play for YEARS. Just seems crazy long, boring, and pointless to witness.
Dana doenst like anything fun or entertaining. Fighters have uniforms, so no individuality.
They arent allowed to do cool walk outsâŚ
Dana will make the sphere look like an Apex show
I kind of want to go to noche ufc but i need to see the set-up first
Having been to the sphere, it is fucking amazing.
But other than specific sphere shows (movie shit) and concerts, Iâm not sure what they can do with it that would be good or additive.
UFC would be weirdâŚwhat can they realistically do? Put up a desert background so it looks like theyâre fighting outside? Fill the entire screen with fight action in the most distracting way possible?
In all likelihood theyâll wind up putting a big screen in the middle to show replays and live action and waste 85% of the sphere like this:
They are gonna use the sphere to run giant fucking ads of Howler Head, Bud Light, Proper Twelve, Monster, Modelo and Corn Nuts before, during and after fights.
CondomDepot could not be reached for comment but rumor has it they are working vigorously towards penetrating the MMA market again in the future.