The Prince George's County Council held a listening session on September 22, 2026, at the County Administration Building in Largo, Maryland, to gather public input on the proposed Sphere entertainment venue at National Harbor. Council Chair Krystal Oriadha opened the session, emphasizing that the council was in a listening posture and could not take any action that evening. Presentations were given by MSG Sphere Entertainment and council staff, followed by over 40 registered public speakers. The project involves a 6,000-seat, 302-foot-tall sphere-shaped venue with immersive technology, projected to cost $1.4 billion, with $130 million in county tax increment financing (TIF) and a $40 million county-owned parking garage.
All right, are we good with AV? Okay, awesome. I want to thank everyone for attending today's listening session. Um, so we uh have hosted a few listening sessions this past year. Um, usually they're in the community across the county on different topics. Um, but today, because this topic is one that's so important, um, especially to my councilmember um district eight member, councilmember Burroughs, but to all of the residents of the county. It was important that we wanted to host an opportunity for you all to one speak um to us um to hear uh the presentation from the sphere, the analysis from our team. Um so this is a listening session. Um so we're not sitting in our official capacity as a county council. We can't take any action at this time in any way. Um it's one of the reasons why we won't call roll. Um we don't have to have a quorum. And it's really a listening session. So that's the posture we will be in. Um we will listen to the sphere, we'll listen to staff, and then more importantly, we're gonna listen to the residents of Prince Jurtis County. This will allow us to have as much information as possible as we continue to have uh council committee sessions and hearings and ultimately take a final vote. Uh I'll just say as the chair and speak for the body that we are excited about the opportunity of new development uh coming to Prince Rose County. And you know, at want to thank the county executive and the governor for the work that they did um to not only bring this to the state of Maryland, but bring this opportunity here to Prince George's County. Uh, but what's really important to us when we look at new development is that we want to make sure that we central um the needs and the priorities of residents of Prince George's County. And so for us, we're looking to make sure that our residents that are most impacted that live in the vicinity, that their voices are heard, that we have a strong community benefits agreement that centers them. We want to make sure that our small minority businesses right here in Prince George's County are at the center of this opportunity. Because when you're talking about billions of dollars being spent, um, we want to make sure that we're elevating locally owned and operated businesses and centering our minority businesses, black and brown businesses in a way that historically we not have we have not seen. We also want to make sure that our labor partners have a seat at the table. It's important um that there's living wage, the health standards, everything that we want to see happen on a project when it comes to how our labor force is treated, is what we want to see as the gold standard. We also want to make sure that we hire local residents, right? It's not about only centering the businesses, it's also centering the day-to-day work, not just in the construction phase, but in the operating phase, also centers residents right here in Prince Jordis County getting a piece of the pie. And lastly, when we look at the community benefits agreement, we want to make sure that everything that's promised to the community that's going to be a positive impact is clear, that the residents have a clear understanding of what it's going to mean, and that it's actualized. And that if we're committing a dollar of revenue from the taxpayers, that we're doing it thoughtfully and considering and considering all aspects. So I just want everyone to be assured that is the top priority of our county executive and the top priority of this county council. So I thank everyone for being part of this listening tour for the excuse me, this listening session. For the agenda today, we will be hearing from SPHER. Uh, then we'll have a brief presentation from our legislative staff and their analysis, and then the most important part will be the community. As mentioned before, we have a sign-up sheet. Um, so if you are in our overflow, you do have to come down to this session to sign up to um be heard to speak. Uh you'll have two minutes. If this is their first time joining us, there'll be a clock, there'll be a buzzer. I will gently nudge you to finish. Um, but we probably have a lot of people that want to be heard. And so um, as many know that have come to listening sessions, I sit in the seat till everyone's done talking. Um, but uh we all want to go home at a reasonable time, right? Um, so I just thank you all for attending. Uh and then we'll be uh adjourned. And so I will now pass it on to I don't know if Tracy, you wanted to do introductions or thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Tracy Benjamin, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Economic Development, and I am very excited and happy to be here today as we listen to the public's concerns regarding the sphere. Uh and with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Paul Mikia Makia. I'm sorry if I pronounced it difficult. Good afternoon, everybody, or I should say good evening. Yeah, I know I just apologize that look this way, not that way for our comments, but thank you all for coming out.