Good morning. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. Fiscal 2022 second quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning and welcome to MSG Entertainment's fiscal 2022 Q2 earnings conference call. Our President, Andy Lustgarten, will begin today's call with a discussion on the company's entertainment and Tao Group segments. This will be followed by an update from Andrea Greenberg, President and CEO of MSG Networks. Our EVP and Chief Financial Officer, David Byrnes, will then review our financial results. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. If you do not have a copy of today's earnings release, it is available in the Investors section of our corporate website.
Please take note of the following. Today's discussion may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results, developments, and events may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These include financial community perceptions of the company and its business, operations, financial condition, and the industry in which it operates, as well as the factors described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the sections entitled Risk Factors and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contained therein.
The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call. On pages 5 and 6 of today's earnings release, we provide consolidated statements of operations and a reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income or AOI, a non-GAAP financial measure.
With that, I'll now turn the call over to Andy.
Thank you, Ari, and good morning, everyone. On our last call, we spoke about the momentum we were seeing across our business and markets. In our Q2 , this translated into positive AOI at our entertainment segment for the 1st time since the start of the pandemic, as well as strong results at Tao Group for the third consecutive quarter. While the emergence of Omicron dampened what otherwise would have been an even stronger financial result, for example, resulting in a shortened holiday run for the Christmas Spectacular, all signs for our business are pointed in the right direction.
Our booking schedule continues to fill up, with calendar 2022 having the potential to be a standout year. Guests are clearly spending for experiences they value, which plays to our strengths.
Our sponsorship business has come back quickly and is now on pace to exceed pre-pandemic levels on a go-forward basis. Tao Group is well-positioned for further expansion on the heels of robust demand in key markets, such as New York and Las Vegas. Let's spend a few moments discussing the Q2 . As anticipated, our venues started to get busy again in October with concert touring ramping back up, the Knicks and Rangers starting their seasons, and marquee sporting events returning to the Garden. We were also thrilled to welcome back the Christmas Spectacular in November.
To give you a sense of how busy we were, on an overall basis, we hosted nearly 300 events and welcomed approximately 1.7 million guests into our venues. Our guests continued to spend for these premium experiences.
For example, we hosted numerous sold-out events, including one of the highest-grossing nights ever for the UFC at the Garden. At each of our venues, contribution on a per-concert basis was either above or in line with results for the fiscal 2022 quarter, our last full pre-pandemic period. The Christmas Spectacular launched with solid demand, with ticket per caps well ahead of the 2019 production, and F&B and merchandise per caps at our venues increased double digits compared to pre-COVID levels.
Unfortunately, the onset of Omicron slowed some of this momentum as a number of booked events were canceled or postponed. In addition, due to increasing operational challenges from the pandemic, we made the difficult decision to cancel the final 2 weeks of the Christmas Spectacular, a period that typically includes among the highest-grossing performances in a show's run.
It's clear that fans were excited for the return of the Rockettes. Ticket demand, including day-of-sales, remained robust right up until the final performance. In fact, before canceling those last two weeks, we were on pace to sell nearly 700,000 tickets across 160 shows. While we wanted to make it through the entire season, we are proud to have hosted more than 400,000 people at just over 100 performances. The enthusiasm we saw throughout the run reinforces the important role the show plays during the holiday season and gives us great confidence for next year's production.
Looking ahead, we are encouraged by what we're seeing in the operating environment as the Omicron wave continues to recede.
The percentage of ticket buyers attending our events, which understandably took a dip in late December, continues to recover and is now approaching pre-Omicron levels, showing consumers' sustained desire for lived experiences, and we are ready to meet that demand. Our concert booking schedule for calendar 2022 remains strong and is currently pacing nearly 50% ahead of where we were at this point 2 years ago for 2020. Turning to marketing partnerships. Since the start of the fiscal year, we've not only renewed several marquee and signature partners, but we've also welcomed new ones.
In November, we announced agreements with BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook, both expansive multiyear deals that leverage our assets across our portfolio. With mobile sports gaming now live in New York, partners are seeing firsthand the value we provide in helping to drive their business.
We anticipate further opportunities to increase our exposure in this exciting area. We have also started to make real inroads in the blockchain category, recently completing a new partnership agreement with Coinbase that provides significant exposure within our portfolio, including MSG Networks and, through our representation agreement, MSG Sports. Moving now to TAO Group. The business continued to see strong demand during the quarter in its to anchor markets of Las Vegas and New York, with average check sizes meaningfully above 2019 levels. Consistent with our entertainment business, TAO's results for the quarter would have been even stronger had it not been for the onset of Omicron, which temporarily impacted both demand and operations near the end of the quarter.
On recent earnings calls, we've talked about our expectation for TAO's margins to normalize over time as staffing levels increase.
Today's results reflect the impact of TAO's progress, staffing back up at its venues as well as at the corporate level. In addition, some of the margin reduction relative to our fiscal Q1 reflects a seasonal shift in TAO's revenue mix from beverage to food sales as nightlife activity typically slows leading into the holidays, as well as some inflation in cost of goods sold. In a normal year, we would have benefited during the quarter from high-margin corporate holiday events in New York and London. Due to the lingering effects of the pandemic on office occupancy as well as Omicron, that was not the case this year.
Looking ahead, TAO Group is continuing to make progress on its growth plans with a slate of exciting new venue openings.
These include LAVO in West Hollywood, which is set to open in coming weeks, and the highly anticipated reopening of a fully renovated TAO Beach in Las Vegas, as well as a brand-new venue in Miami, both scheduled to open this spring. As we've discussed before, Las Vegas is a key market for us. With more than a dozen TAO venues in its entertainment capital, it is also the location of our 1st MSG Sphere. We continue to make significant construction progress on MSG Sphere at The Venetian and remain on track to open the venue in calendar 2023. We are now approaching the midway point of building the Exosphere, the 366-foot-tall spherical structure that surrounds the venue.
The Exosphere will ultimately be covered with approximately 580,000 sq ft of fully programmable LED lighting, forming the largest LED screen on Earth and creating an impactful display for artists, partners, and brands. Inside the venue, we are building the steel framework that will support Sphere's 160,000 sq ft interior LED display plane and multilayered audio system, enabling the immersive technologies that will make Sphere a 1st-of-its-kind in entertainment destination. In summary, we continue to be energized by the positive momentum we are generating across our business and by our ongoing progress with Sphere, which sets the stage for our company's next chapter. We are optimistic about the road ahead and are confident in our ability to generate long-term shareholder value.
Before turning the call over to Andrea, I'd like to take a moment to welcome our new CFO, David Byrnes. David joined last month, and after Andrea's remarks, will review our financial results for the quarter. David is a seasoned executive with more than 30 years of finance experience, including at ViacomCBS, where he most recently served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Finance. I'm confident that David's breadth of financial and operating experience will prove valuable ensuring the long-term success of our company. We'd also like to thank Mark Fitzpatrick for his contributions during his time as CFO and wish him well in his future endeavors. With that, I will turn the call over to Andrea.
Thank you, Andy, and good morning. We are now in the midst of the 2021-2022 NBA and NHL seasons and are pleased that MSG Networks is once again airing full telecast schedules of the Knicks and our four professional hockey teams. While the environment has remained fluid with some COVID-related game postponements, I am proud of the way we have stayed nimble and creative to bring fans the exciting game telecasts and other compelling content they have come to expect from us. Turning to our Q2 financial performance.
As you saw in this morning's earnings release, affiliate revenue reflects the impact of our non-renewal with Comcast. It also includes decreases in our non-Comcast subscriber base, which were partially offset by higher affiliate rates.
At the same time, our advertising revenue in the quarter was exceptional, driven by a return to full schedules for our teams and strong per game advertising sales. Relative to the Q2 of fiscal 2020, which was our last full quarter before the onset of the pandemic, we saw significant increases in both advertising rates and sell through for our live professional sports product. This reflects broad-based advertiser interest in our content, as well as our success in partnering with mobile sports betting operators who clearly value our unique ability to reach sports fans in this market.
In addition to significant levels of traditional spot buys, we've been working closely with mobile gaming operators on developing unique content opportunities that integrate their brands into our programming.
For example, DraftKings recently became the presenting partner of our original sports betting shows, The Bettor Half Hour, The Betting Exchange, and Odds with Ends, which now include DraftKings talent integrations, betting odds, and promotions. DraftKings is also sponsoring this week's programming stunt on MSG Networks, which features live nightly specials and betting-themed game simulcasts, all leading up to the Super Bowl this Sunday. Caesars Sportsbook recently completed a month-long sponsorship of our programming to honor legendary Rangers goalie and current MSG Networks studio analyst Henrik Lundqvist, which culminated with Henrik's jersey retirement ceremony on January 28th.
Also, in collaboration with Caesars Sportsbook, we are launching a short-form interview series hosted by Caesars himself, comedian JB Smoove, which will air across our networks and social media channels.
While mobile sports betting was our single largest advertising category for the quarter, we're also seeing growth and momentum across many other categories. Blue-chip companies such as Amazon, Google, Verizon, and Facebook have all increased their advertising spend with us, while we've simultaneously welcomed new partners such as Coinbase, which Andy mentioned earlier, as well as TikTok and indeed.com. When coupled with the success we've had in mobile sports gaming, this has put us on a path for what could be our best year ever in advertising revenue with our NBA and NHL teams. Finally, as I highlighted last quarter, we continue to explore different direct-to-consumer models with an eye towards the launch by the end of this calendar year.
While the media landscape continues to evolve, we remain confident in the popularity of our live content and believe that our commitment to innovation will enable us to continue to drive value for partners, advertisers, and viewers alike. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to David.
Thank you, Andrea. I'm excited to join MSG Entertainment at such an important time for the company, and I look forward to helping ensure we continue to deliver excellence across our financial operations while also driving our key business priorities. Let's start by reviewing our financial results. In the fiscal Q2 , we generated total revenues of $516 million and adjusted operating income of $76 million, a significant improvement over last year's COVID-impacted Q2 . The Entertainment segment had $248 million in revenue, which primarily reflects the ramp-up of live events in the quarter, the shortened holiday season run of the Christmas Spectacular, and revenues related to the arena license agreements with MSG Sports as the Knicks and Rangers were back at the Garden for full 2021/2022 season schedules.
Adjusted operating income for the entertainment segment was $15 million, bringing us back to positive quarterly AOI for the 1st time since the onset of the pandemic. These results also reflect our efforts to strategically rehire across our entertainment segment as we come out of the pandemic, as well as costs related to content development and technology for MSG Sphere. Turning to MSG Networks, the segment generated $160 million in revenues, an increase of 9% year-over-year, and $44 million in AOI as compared to $74 million in the prior year quarter. As Andrea discussed, the increase in revenue reflects strong advertising results, partially offset by lower affiliate revenues.
The decrease in AOI reflects the return to normalized levels of direct and SG&A expenses, with MSG Networks slated to telecast full NBA and NHL regular season schedules this year.
Finally, Tao Group generated revenues of $117 million and adjusted operating income of $17.5 million, which, as Andy mentioned earlier, reflects reopening momentum in key markets such as Las Vegas and New York, Tao's efforts to staff back up, as well as some inflation in cost of goods sold. As a reminder, Tao's fiscal Q3 is a seasonally slower period and will also reflect some lingering impact from Omicron. With a slate of new venue openings on the horizon, as Andy touched on, Tao's Q3 will also include certain pre-opening costs. With Omicron receding and some of these new venues starting operations, we anticipate a strong end to the fiscal year for Tao.
Turning to our balance sheet, as of December 31ST, we had approximately $1.3 billion of cash on hand, and our debt balance was approximately $1.7 billion. With respect to MSG Sphere, our project to date construction costs through December 31 were approximately $1.1 billion, which includes $146 million of accrued costs that were not paid as of December 31ST and is net of the $65 million received from the Las Vegas Sands. As a reminder, our previously disclosed cost estimate for MSG Sphere is approximately $1.865 billion. We are continuing to aggressively manage costs as we work toward the planned opening in calendar 2023.
Lastly, later today, we will be amending our 2021 10-K and 2022 Q1 10-Q to retroactively capitalize interest on all outstanding debt during the periods when the company had capitalized costs relating to MSG Sphere in Las Vegas. We want to let you know that this will reduce interest expense and increase reported net income with no impact on our revenues, AOI, and operating income for the prior periods. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari.
Thank you, David. Operator, can we open up the call for questions, please?
At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. That's star one. Your 1st question comes from Brandon Ross with LightShed Partners.
Good morning, everyone. Andrea, you said in the prepared remarks that you have an eye towards a direct-to-consumer launch for MSG Networks, I think by the end of the calendar year. Can you discuss how you expect the launch to impact your relationship with your MVPD partners on your current deals and how you expect it to impact future negotiations with those partners?
Sure. Hi, Brandon. Well, you know, as you might expect, there's absolutely some balancing to be done here. You know, we're operating, as you know, in a very delicate ecosystem with our affiliates and our leagues, our fans, our sponsors, who we believe understand the value of our programming. We're quite confident that we'll work together to find an appropriate model. You know, we've said in the past, we have the flexibility in our affiliate agreement to offer a DTC product, so it's been contemplated. You know, but that being said, we're certainly mindful of our traditional linear business.
You know, we're certainly mindful of the important partnerships that we have with our distributors and the benefits, you know, including clearly the revenues and the subscribers that we see from those relationships. We believe that there remains continued value in the bundle.
For us, any DTC offering will take this into consideration. You know, on another note, when we think about the millions of homes in our regions that don't receive our networks, they're likely to be customers of our affiliates in one way or another. There also may be partnership opportunities on that front. You know, I think we said we're evaluating all the opportunities right now and weighing all the considerations.
Okay. Then I think you alluded to it, you need league approval and a deal with the NBA and NHL in order to launch. Can you talk about where those negotiations stand? I know Sinclair is in a situation now where they're on rolling one-year deals and need league approval, at least for the NBA every year. Should we expect something similar in your deal with the NBA?
Well, you know, we're currently in the process of renewing our agreements with the NBA and the NHL for multiple years. You know, as I've said before, we've renewed league agreements many times in the ordinary course of business, and for us, we're quite confident that this time will be no different. I've also mentioned in the past that our previous agreements with both leagues included direct consumer rights. As for us, you know, I can't comment on Sinclair's agreements with the leagues, you know, but I will say that not all RSNs are the same and that there aren't external factors here that may have played a role in decision-making on behalf of the leagues or Sinclair.
Perfect. Thank you, Andrea.
Thanks, Brandon.
Your next question is from David Karnovsky with JPMorgan.
Hi. Thank you. Andy, you highlighted the organic pipeline for Tao, but just given some of the early success you've had integrating Hakkasan, you know, do you see any opportunity to add to your nightlife offering through M&A?
Thanks, David. Well 1st I'd like to acknowledge it's been not even a year since we purchased Hakkasan, what a year it's been. We're so excited. We brought two of the leading hospitality, premium hospitality brands together. I think we have, if not the best management team in the business, without a question in my mind. I'd say that Hakkasan allowed TAO to grow faster and Hakkasan to grow faster as well as we bring the best management team together to push this business. You've seen strong profitability of the combined business over the past few quarters, which has been driven by these great assets as well as people's desire to experience premium experiences, and we expect this demand to continue.
That said, the team is still digesting Hakkasan.
It was purchased in the middle of COVID. There are still locations in numerous parts of the world that we're working on to improve, drive the business. What this team is really focused on 1st is organic growth. We've got 3 venues coming up in the next few months. LAVO West Hollywood, TAO Beach in Las Vegas, a brand new venue in Miami. There's a huge pipeline also over the next 12 months and thereafter. Organic growth is 1st. That said, you know, we're always opportunistic, and if there's the right property and the right opportunity, we would look at it seriously. I mean, they've shown that their ability to digest a significant asset is supposedly pulling TAO and Hakkasan together.
For the near term, I would say organic growth is the primary focus of the organization.
Okay. You also gave some, you know, great insight on the calendar for the concerts pipeline this year. I was wondering if you had an early view into 2023 as we've heard from some other promoters about, you know, the supply just being so strong that some of it just has to get extended into the out year. Any early insight would be great.
Sure. I just want to reiterate for calendar 2022, it's looking to be a standout year. The H1 of the calendar of 2022, we're about 30% above pre-pandemic levels, for the same period. As I mentioned earlier, for the full year, we're going to be about 50% up compared to pre-pandemic. We expect a really busy spring and summer. We've got more dates than we've ever had held dates subject to change over during the NBA and NHL playoffs. I think that just shows the demand, or the supply, the demand from artists and the demand from clients, and from customers.
As we look out past that, I just want to remind you the way typically it happens, we start hearing from holds, and then we start turning into firms and book and actual events more like 6, 9, maybe 12 months out. That said, as we look further out, we've got more holds than we've ever seen. There's real strong demand. There are a number of top artists who haven't been on the road yet. We feel really good for not only this next 6 months, the next year and beyond. We just think this is a very strong business. Thank you.
All right. Thanks.
Your next question is from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.
Thanks. Just a couple of follow-ups. Andrea, not to make or turn this into a Sinclair call, but one of the points of dispute out there is going to be the price point on the product. There's an $18-a-month number floating around that the leagues aren't happy with. I'm just wondering if you have a perspective on pricing D2C, even if it's just a view on something in that range as you think about trying to put this product together. Sort of if you're not willing to be specific, just what are you balancing as you try to find market fit and work through, as you described, a delicate ecosystem.
Andy, just coming back, you know, that 50% number obviously could get pretty interesting when you think about the revenue implications of that, especially when you layer on the per caps. Just wanted to ask, is that representative of sort of nights at the Garden? Is there a mix shift we should be thinking about in terms of that booking growth across your venues as we try to think about the financial impact of that level of supply, assuming the demand is there from the customer? Thank you.
Well, Ben, you know, as we've said, we continue to actively evaluate the opportunity for us. You know, for us in this market, that includes not only pricing, but also product types and technical requirements and other considerations. We had conducted some early research that we're supplementing now, so a little too early for us to comment on packaging, pricing, and what the product will ultimately look like. It's something that we're actively exploring, and as we said, with an eye towards a launch before the end of this calendar year.
Got it.
Thanks, Ben. As I talked about the 50% increase as we look out for the next 12 months, it's really roughly across all of our venues. It's actually a little bit higher in the arena. It's almost 60% up in the arena. But when you look across all of our venues, we see an increase. The only reason why I think it's a little bit higher at the arena than some of the other venues is those are the bigger tours that actually do need to plan a little farther out, and some of the smaller tours have a little bit more wiggle room to when they start planning. I think we see this demand everywhere, and we feel really good.
Got it. Thank you.
Your next question is from David Katz with Jefferies.
Hey, morning, this is Rashif, on behalf of David. Are you guys able to speak towards progress on Sphere and whether there are any supply chain issues you might have experienced?
Sure. I'll take that. This is Dave. Obviously I've only been on board at MSG for a couple of weeks, but I've already spent a significant amount of my time working directly with the Sphere team, including being out at the site in Vegas earlier this week. 1st off, we have a really strong team managing the project and we continue to make great progress on the construction. The team's been very focused on supply chain and managing lead times since we began construction. We are continually evaluating our timelines and developing alternatives, you know, where they might be needed.
Also progress-wise, remember pre-pandemic, we had already purchased the bigger items like the majority of the main structural steel for the project is all secured.
Other areas like the concrete of the main structure is essentially complete. You know, of course there are some uncertainties to work through regarding electronics, for example, but our team is doing all we can to manage through it in every single detail. You know, in summary, what I'll say is one, we're aggressively managing every aspect of the project. Two, we feel good about where we are. 3, you know, we continue to be really excited about opening the venue in the H2 of calendar 2023.
Appreciate it. That helps. If I can ask, are there any thoughts on sports betting facilities in MSG?
Sure. Thanks. So let me just take a stab at it. We are really pleased at how we've launched the sports betting category. I've always talked about this. This is great for us in terms of both consumer engagement as well as the sponsorship business. Our partners, BetMGM, our current partners, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, had very strong launches. One of them even credited part of their market share grab to us and helping them do it. We feel really good about what we're able to do with our partners. New York State has been one of the more restrictive states in terms of both tax rate and certain rules around gaming.
In the news, you might have read about conversations about kiosks, lounges, other possibilities.
Any of those would be incremental revenue for us, and would be a win-win for our partners. We have great assets that enable our partners to blanket the market through The Garden, through hospitality here at The Garden and Tao, on MSG Networks, Moynihan Train Hall, our relationship with MSG Sports. We think we're able to help a partner really capitalize on mobile sports gaming, as well as any other changes that could come into market. Here at The Garden, we've always been a very strong believer of this. When those laws do change, if and they do change, we will be on top of it and moving very quickly to capitalize.
We think there's a lot of opportunity here, and we think it's an evolving category, an evolving business that's very good for both us and our partners.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Your next question is from Curry Baker with Guggenheim Securities.
Hey, good morning. Thanks for the questions. I have 2. The 1st one's on Tao. Margins were around 15% this quarter, down from 22% last quarter, where I think you benefited from some reduced staffing. Can you help us think about normalized Tao margins maybe going forward or on a full year basis? Any puts and takes to consider, whether it's staffing, wage inflation, seasonality? Thanks.
Sure. Thanks, Curry. Again, let's take a step back. It's been not even a year since we merged with Hawks Son. Still a lot of integration efforts going on. It's been a very interesting year with the pandemic. As we mentioned, when we 1st reopened, we benefited from reduced competition and also reduced staffing levels. You saw in this quarter as competition came back a little bit, as well as some inflation with cost of goods sold, increased staffing levels, it came down to about a 15% margin. I do expect this business to continue to be very strong. I'd also note that in this past quarter, we had impacts from Omicron, so obviously that impacted margin.
As we think long term, I, you know, I think average long-term margins should be in the mid-teens%, with fluctuations depending on seasonality and demand as we open new venues.
Okay, great. Thanks. My 2nd question is on the Networks business. You guys have renewed an agreement recently with Verizon. We're aware of the Comcast situation. Looking ahead over calendar 2022, are there any other material agreements coming up with distributor partners? If so, can you help us with timing?
We won't get into specifics. We will say that our major affiliate deals are staggered, and they come up for renewal from time to time. You know, as you noted, we've recently renewed our agreement with Verizon, along with several other smaller affiliates.
Okay, thanks. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Curry.
Our-
Operator, we have time for one last caller.
Our last question comes from Paul Golding with Macquarie.
Thanks so much for the question, and Dave, congrats on the new role. I wanted to turn to Hakkasan quickly, just to see if, Andy, if you could expand at all on potential synergistic, go-forward impact as the TAO and Hakkasan management and operation becomes more integrated and whether you have any expectations in terms of how that synergy could contribute to Sphere and vice versa once you're up and running.
Thanks, Paul. Again, we've got, we think, 2 of the most premium hospitality brands. We've created a global powerhouse here. I talked about it. I think this management team is excellent. As bringing them together, we were able to obviously create synergies between that management team by focusing on duplicate roles and growing the management team in the right way around our TAO management team. There was the 1st level of synergies. There were other synergies we saw between the 2. There were economies of scale, such as in areas of food and beverage, purchasing, marketing.
One of the other things that Hakkasan offered TAO did have some international presence, but Hakkasan has a much larger international presence, so we're able to see an ability for TAO to grow faster internationally.
I mentioned, you know, cities like London, where Hakkasan has numerous restaurants in, including a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant. I mean, it really, they play well together, and they complement each other. It'll help TAO grow faster internationally. In addition, as we think about TAO and Hakkasan in Las Vegas, if you look at what we're doing here in the Madison Square Garden, for example, you know, TAO's come in and brought the Suite 16, which has been a great success. They've been helping us drive our premium business here in the Garden. We started to add food stands.
There's a LAVO meatball stand that just opened up. You could see some of the essence of what's going to happen as we think towards the Sphere.
Being the best in premium hospitality and experiences as we look to Las Vegas, you could engage in part of our design and part of thinking our F&B experience, our premium experiences, and it's going to be a great synergy as we look to open the Sphere when we do.
Great. Just a quick follow-up on the commentary around crypto, either for you, Andy, or for Andrea, what you see in terms of the NFT space evolving from a monetization perspective, for your respective businesses, whether, Andy, on your side you see in venue or incremental sponsorship opportunity for the networks business? Thanks.
Sure. Thanks, Paul. I think of crypto actually as at a more macro level, a higher level up in the blockchain ecosystem. Cryptocurrency is obviously one part of it. There's NFTs, there's exchanges, there's digital fan tokens, and given where we saw it, if you would have asked me two years ago where we are, we think there's going to be other businesses that come off of it. Where that gives us our opportunity is what we've been able to do on the sponsorship side, which we're really feeling strong, that we've started off in a really strong way. We brought in a great partnership with Coinbase, which includes significant exposure across our portfolio, including MSG Networks.
We've acted as a sales agent for MSG Sports on their recent deal with Socios. We're having many discussions about other ways to expand our exposure in this category. We think not only is it from sponsorship, but what we're seeing is there's new and innovative ways for customers to connect, creating communities, being able to track. We view it not only as a sponsorship business, but also as a way to market and understand our consumers better. We think there's ways that we're going to continue to grow it. There could be in arena uses of crypto, but again, we're exploring lots of options, and we feel really good that there's what we've done so far, and we feel very good at what the future bears for us.
Great. Thanks.
I would now like to turn it back over to Ari Danes for closing remarks.
Thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call. Have a good day.
Goodbye. Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.