The second iteration of the popular Sphere venue will be located in Abu Dhabi after officials from the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT) announced a deal with its New York-based holding company Sphere Entertainment.

The first Sphere location outside of the United States is part of the intended vision of CEO James Dolan for a global network of venues and will require the DCT to pay a franchise initiation fee for the use of proprietary designs and intellectual property. It also aligns with Abu Dhabi's larger 2030 Tourism Strategy, which spurred an investment equal to at least $10 billion. 

The DCT Abu Dhabi will also be asked to pay an annual fee to use the Sphere’s creative and artistic content. Populous’ original design for the 20,000-seat Las Vegas Sphere cost a total of $2.3 billion to construct between 2019 and 2023.

This ends some speculation as to where the Sphere would expand next following the recent withdrawal of a heavily contested plan for East London which turned into "a political football between rival parties" after being first proposed in 2018. South Korea has been rumored as another potential location, though no other locations have been proposed officially at this time. Dolan said the Abu Dhabi announcement is a "significant milestone" on the way toward accomplishing that goal. 

There was no stated construction timeline for the Abu Dhabi project. The Sphere is Las Vegas has counted 24 million visitors since opening in September of 2023.