‘Maryland is doing big things again’: Gov. Moore on ‘Mini-Sphere’ planned for National Harbor

Well, it actually started off when we heard that there even might be an interest in it. And I remember taking a trip out to Vegas, and I told the people of the state, when I was running that, ‘every time I go someplace, I want to bring three businesses back with me to the state of Maryland.’

I had a chance to speak with the folks at Sphere, did a tour. We actually had a chance to watch a Kenny Chesney rehearsal. And I was just blown away with what I saw.

It’s not just a place for concerts or meetings and conferences. It truly is an entire experience. Working in partnership with the county executive and thinking about what will be required to make this happen, we now see that this is not just one of the single largest private investments inside of our state, but something that has a chance to bring the kind of revenue in that nothing else has the capacity to. So we’re very excited, because it’s showing that Maryland is doing big things again.

Well, the great thing about it is, is that all the capital that’s coming from the state is already included inside the fiscal year ’27 proposed budget. So there’s no need for additional authorized capital for it.

While there is a portion of it that will come from state and local, the vast majority of this is actually going to be private capital that’s being put toward this.

We’re really excited that this is going to be a significant opportunity for leveraged capital, and capital that is going to return a significant return on the investment that we’re going to see.

It’s estimated that once it’s complete, this will return a billion dollars in revenue that will happen annually. But also it’s about the jobs it’s going to create. There will be over 2,700 construction jobs — just to build it. And then once it’s complete, we’re looking at around 5,000 jobs that is going to create — 5,000 good paying jobs.

So as we’re continuing to focus on economic growth, and frankly, as we’re continuing and focusing on private sector economic growth, that also diversifies off of Washington, D.C. … it’s showing that the economic growth and economic diversification that we are having right now in Maryland, it is real and it’s going to continue.

Well, we’ve already been in conversation with them about making sure that this Sphere is something that fits into our local jurisdiction. One of the really important things is that while this is only going to be the second Sphere built in the United States, that it’s something that has to fit in with our region and what we want.

And so that is going to be something that the local leadership is going to be working very, very closely with Sphere leadership to make sure that this fits in well with, with everything that we desire here in the state of Maryland.

Since I’ve been the governor, we’ve now added nearly 100,000 new jobs into the state of Maryland; that we are having among the fastest drops in violent crime — in fact, the fastest drop in violent crime in the state of Maryland is than anywhere in the United States of America — that we’ve added over 35,000 new businesses to Maryland, and that includes things like the Sphere, Samsung Biologics, AstraZeneca.

And I know just yesterday, we were very proud to announce that, because of the good people of state of Maryland, we’ve had the largest fundraising haul of any of any campaign in the history of the state of Maryland.

So I get it. But I also know that when he says that he is worried about the future of this country, my answer is I agree, and I hopefully will find ways of working with him and others to be able to address that.

I don’t yet know what the maps are going to look like. I do not believe yet that they have completed the work and come with a full assessment.

But what I do know is I’m really proud of the work that they have done. They have spent months now actually speaking to Marylanders and doing what other states are not doing. When you’re looking at places like Texas and Florida and North Carolina and Ohio, who are literally just sitting in back rooms with Sharpies and doing political redlining. But in the state of Maryland, we actually listen to people.

And this bipartisan commission has now spent months going through and analyzing what is going to be required in order for Maryland to meet this moment and to respect and protect our democracy. So we should find out in short order what their recommendations are, and I definitely will have a response once we hear what the recommendations are.