MSG Takes Its Ball Home After Withdrawing London Sphere Planning Application
Madison Square Garden Entertainment has formally withdrawn its planning application for a Las Vegas-style Sphere entertainment venue in east London.
MSG has written to the Planning Inspectorate to say that it could not continue to participate in the process after claiming that it had become “merely a political football between rival parties.”
MSG also said in its statement that it was “extremely disappointing” that Londoners would “not benefit from the Sphere’s groundbreaking technology and the thousands of well-paying jobs it would have created.”
In December 2023, Michael Gove, secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, used his powers to call in and review the planning permission rejection by London Mayor Sadiq Khan for the 21,000-seat, 300-foot-tall structure in Stratford, east London.
The associated application for advertisement consent was also to be decided upon by ministers in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Gove informed the London Legacy Development Corporation that there would be a local inquiry held regarding the planning application.
However, MSG sister company Sphere Entertainment has written to Gove advising him of the company’s plan to withdraw its application and decline to participate in the call-in process. A company spokesperson said in a statement that it was committed to working with “forward-thinking cities around the world” who were “serious” about bringing the project to their communities.
“On behalf of both Stratford Garden Development Limited and Sphere Entertainment, I write to confirm that we are officially withdrawing our application from the Planning Inspectorate process,” MSG’s letter to the Planning Inspectorate says.
“After spending millions of pounds acquiring our site in Stratford and collaboratively engaging in a five-year planning process with numerous governmental bodies, including the local planning authority who approved our plans following careful review, we cannot continue to participate in a process that is merely a political football between rival parties.”
MSG had wanted to build its Sphere venue at a 4.7-acre site in Stratford, which was bought by the firm having been vacant since being used as a temporary coach park during the 2012 London Olympics.
Aping the famous structure in Las Vegas, it had plans to illuminate its exterior surface and incorporate the world’s highest-resolution LED screen and immersive sound systems to host concerts, shows and sporting events.
Following New York-based MSG’s planning application to the LLDC, Khan ruled in November that the Sphere would not be allowed to be built because the venue would cause “significant light intrusion resulting in significant harm to the outlook of neighbouring properties, detriment to human health, and significant harm to the general amenity enjoyed by residents of their own homes.”
A new proposed location is yet to be announced, but the group behind the MSG Sphere had previously said that it was in “serious talks” about opening a site in the United Arab Emirates, and local reports in South Korea suggest Seoul may host a Sphere.
