The #1 anti-AI trade: Sphere stock (SPHR)

- By Stephen McBride, Chief Analyst at RiskHedge

Since ChatGPT was released in late 2022, AI stocks have been moving one way. Up.

Nvidia (NVDA) alone surged 10X.

AI is the biggest megatrend of our lifetimes. Hyperscalers will spend $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone. Which is why I expect AI stocks to keep rising in 2026.

But there’s another side to the AI boom most investors are missing. And that's great for Sphere Entertainment stock (SPHR).

I call this the anti-AI trade.

Think about how much time we spend on screens. I spend the majority of my waking hours staring at a screen!

Now imagine what happens when AI supercharges the internet with custom-tailored movies and digital worlds.

Venture capitalist Josh Wolfe likes to say, “What’s scarce is valuable.”

In an AI-dominated world, experiences that pull people away from screens become ultra valuable.

I’m talking about live events. Concerts. Sports. Immersive entertainment.

Betting on the other side of AI disruption is a highly underrated opportunity.

Spending on live entertainment has been booming for decades.

As a percentage of the US economy, live-event spending has doubled since 1990:

Source: Eventbrite

Today the industry generates roughly $100 billion per year.

I was surprised by how small this is. But the trend is what matters, and the trend is UP.

Demand is accelerating across every major category.

The live industry is breaking records year after year.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour generated more than $2 billion in ticket sales. It was the highest-grossing concert tour in history.

Broadway just recorded its highest-grossing season ever.

The NFL drew nearly 19 million fans to games in the 2024–2025 season, and it’s enjoying the highest average attendance in its history.

Here's the best stock to profit from the rise of live events...

It’s called the Las Vegas Sphere.

Standing 350 feet tall and 500 feet wide, this giant orb sitting in Nevada desert is wrapped in 1.2 million hockey-puck-sized LED lights. From the outside, it looks like a glowing planet dropped in the middle of Las Vegas.

From the inside, it’s the most immersive entertainment venue ever built:

Source: Yahoo

The interior screen wraps around the entire audience. Sound moves through the room like a physical object. The visuals make you feel like you’re standing inside the movie itself.

During U2’s residency, the walls of the Sphere transformed into towering desert cliffs and swirling galaxies that seemed to stretch miles above the audience. The band looked almost small against the scale of it.

U2 performed 40 shows during the Sphere’s opening residency, drawing more than 650,000 fans and selling out nearly every night.

When UFC sold out its event at the Sphere, it drew around 16,000 fans, showing the Sphere can fill up just as easily for sports as it does for concerts. Between fights, the Sphere transformed the arena entirely.

One fight unfolded against towering Mayan temples. Then the next was inside a roaring volcanic landscape or a neon-lit desert.

The Sphere is a great business model.

When the Sphere was announced, many people thought it was just another Vegas vanity project.

But the numbers tell a very different story.

Sphere has welcomed 1.3 million visitors in its first year of operation—despite hosting only a limited number of shows.

The company behind it, Sphere Entertainment Co. (SPHR) has generated over $1 billion in revenue over the past year.

The immersive documentary “Postcard from Earth” has generated about $400 million in revenue alone.

A new Sphere version of “The Wizard of Oz” has sold roughly $300 million in tickets.

Demand for the upcoming Metallica residency has been so strong, they had to extend to 24 shows from the original eight.

These aren’t traditional concerts or movies. They’re entirely new entertainment formats that cannot exist anywhere else.

Especially not on a screen on your phone.

This is Sphere's hidden moat.

It’s easy to look at the Sphere and assume competitors will eventually build something similar.

After all, capital flows quickly into winning ideas.

But the real barrier here isn’t just money. It’s complexity.

The Sphere combines cutting-edge hardware, proprietary software, and creative production capabilities into a single integrated system.

The LED exterior alone is a technological marvel. The interior display, spatial audio, and synchronized effects require entirely new production techniques that most studios and artists simply don’t have experience with yet.

In other words, this isn’t just a building. It’s a new medium.

Creating content for Sphere isn’t like filming a traditional movie or putting on a traditional concert. Directors, musicians, and designers must rethink how stories are told in a fully immersive environment.

That creates a steep learning curve, and Sphere Entertainment is already years ahead.

There’s also a first-mover advantage in relationships. Major artists like U2 and global brands are partnering early, learning how to use the format, and building audiences specifically for this experience. That kind of ecosystem is difficult for a late entrant to replicate.

And then there’s location. Sphere isn’t just anywhere. It’s in Las Vegas. One of the highest-traffic entertainment hubs in the world. Replicating the same level of demand requires not just building the venue, but embedding it in a global destination city.

All of this adds up to a powerful moat. Even if competitors try to build similar venues, they’ll be starting from scratch. Meanwhile, Sphere continues refining its technology, expanding its content library, and deepening its network effects.

Here’s the deeper economic layer most investors miss.

Sphere doesn’t just compete with other venues. It competes for tourist wallet share.

The average Las Vegas visitor spends roughly $1,200–$1,500 per trip. If Sphere captures even $200 of that (tickets + food + merch), that’s ~15% of total trip spend flowing into a single venue.

That’s extraordinarily high concentration for entertainment. It means Sphere’s real competitor isn’t concerts or cinemas, but casinos, shows, and nightlife.

This reframes Sphere as a share-of-wallet aggregator inside a fixed spending pool. And it helps explain why its revenue per visitor can scale much faster than attendance alone.

Sphere Entertainment plans to open new venues around the world.

There’s one under development here in Abu Dhabi.

There were also plans for a London Sphere. Though, that hit some roadblocks in the form of European regulations.

If those projects succeed, the company could eventually build a global network of Sphere venues.

Think of it like the IMAX of live entertainment—except much bigger, much more unique, and more profitable.

Each new Sphere becomes a destination on its own. Artists can design shows specifically for the venue. Films can be produced exclusively for the format. Sporting leagues can stage events that feel impossible anywhere else.

That creates a powerful ecosystem where the venue itself becomes the main attraction.

I first recommended SPHR stock is a buy in 2023.

The stock has since tripled in price.

And the story is still just getting started.

The first Sphere proved the concept works. The next phase is scaling it.

If Sphere becomes the global standard for immersive live entertainment, today’s valuation could end up looking very small.

Especially as the anti-AI businesses grow alongside artificial intelligence boom.

It's why I still think SPHR is a buy today.

Sphere Entertainment Co. (SPHR) has a Disruption Score of 2. Click here to learn how we calculate the Disruption Score. 

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Stephen McBride is Chief Analyst at RiskHedge. To get more ideas like this sent straight to your inbox every Monday and Friday, make sure to sign up for The Jolt, a free investment letter focused on profiting from disruption.