Let’s Take A Look: How Does Sphere and Its 18,000+ Seats Get Away With Only 304 Parking Spaces? Answer: This Is Clark County
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
You have to admire Dana White and his unbridled enthusiasm for the fight business. The UFC bossman is especially possessed this week about his MMA fight show at the Sphere arena just off the Strip Saturday.
Smitten with the Sphere’s high-tech razzle-dazzle after seeing U2 with buddy Tom Brady last year, White is spending $20 million to put on a UFC event at the ball-shaped arena when a fight show typically costs $2.5 million to stage. White is hyping the event as the ultimate hybrid of sport and entertainment and it even has a Saudi title sponsor.
But how will you get there to witness White’s one-off masterpiece of a spectacle at the Sphere? Remarkably, Clark County approved the construction of the Sphere with only 304 parking spaces on site.
The Sphere has seating capacity of more than 18,000. But it’s clear by looking at the limited parking at the site that there are only about a few hundred car spaces. How did the Sphere get away with providing so little venue parking?
LVSportsBiz.com looked into the matter.
And it starts with Clark County. Let’s break this down, step by step.
Number 1: Clark County government did not look at the Sphere and its parking requirements as a stand-alone venue.
Number 2: Instead of requiring an 18,600-seat venue to have a certain amount of parking spaces, Clark County staff gave the Sphere a break by allowing the fancy venue to be lumped with the Palazzo and Venetian hotel-casinos along with the Sands Expo convention center to determine the number of parking spaces for all four.
Number 3: The required parking under county rules for Sphere, Palazzo, Venetian and Sands Expo Center was 13,910 spaces.
Number 4: The county gave in and approved a request that reduced the number of parking spaces to only 12,405 — about 1,500 less than what was initially required for the Sphere, Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo.
Number 5: We get to the kicker. Clark County was told there were ALREADY 12,101 parking spaces for Venetian, Palazzo and the convention center.
Number 6: Subtract the already-existing 12,101 parking spaces from the approved 12,405 and you will see that a venue with more than 18,000 seats got away with providing only 304 new parking spaces.
And that folks, is how business is done and approved in Clark County.
Next up: 33,000-fan A’s stadium at the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. That should be rich.
