in safety, COVID tests before the event. Health screens, when they're inside the event, there's going to be limited specific types of food, and food and beverage in certain locations. You can't eat on the hallways. But we're -- it's going to be the best experience that keep people safe. We're going to have obviously social distance within the venue.
And we're going to continue to go above and beyond. We've been working with many medical professionals to make sure that we've got the best state-of-the-art technology. And of course, we're going to acquire face masks, temperature checks on the entrance. And the governor's office has been great.
I don't think that there's a specific number that we know of when the next capacity jump will be. But he's clearly created a road map in other types of industry when inflection rates are down and hospitalizations are down, parts of the economy open.
And so as -- if we continue on the path that we're on, I think we're on a path to continue to increase capacity. But obviously, this disease will change over the next few months and we might be in a different place both very good or very bad in the future. It looks like everything seems to be going in the right direction, and we feel pretty good.
So we feel good about this at the beginning of the opening.Operator And your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky with JPMorgan.David Karnovsky Andrew, maybe just to follow up on some of the commentary prior.
I guess how solid should we consider the bookings for the back half of the year in the context of potentially still having capacity restrictions? Like at what level do you think artist, promoters -- or maybe if it's easier to answer regarding their own residencies, right, where would you find it viable to have show at the level?Andy Lustgarten It's a difficult question to answer directly, right? So it's obviously 100% capacity.
It's no question, right? There's just some of the incremental costs around safety and a protocols, but most of that's already. And 10% is very difficult. And on the gravy end, as we get closer to 100%, it's a lot easier.
So I will say the back half of our calendar is, as I've been saying, very -- we feel very good about right now, both between the artists that move their schedule from before COVID to all the other artists who are looking to be on the road. But I can't give you the exact answer if the number is 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%.
I think it's going to be very artist-specific, very promoter-specific in terms of the risk level they want to take on. But with our relationships and its venue, we feel very good that we'll be the leader of it. This market is different than other markets.
And we think that we've shown over and over our ability to deliver for artists amazing experiences as well as our customers. And so we think we'll be back, and we feel very good about where this is going in the future.David Karnovsky Okay.
And then is there any update you'd be willing to provide on how you're thinking about the return profile on the Sphere or maybe when you'd be willing to disclose to investors or provide some view into how to think about the financials once the venue is up and running?Mark Fitzpatrick Sure. This is Mark. I can take that one.
So look, I think we just want to reiterate, we continue to believe that MSG Sphere will create significant long-term value for shareholders, and that has not changed.
You've heard us talk before about the venue's unique platform, which will create compelling growth opportunities across the spectrum of opportunities, including events, sponsorships, premier and hospitality.
And we believe that this is going to translate in a substantial level of revenue and AOI.So I talked about there being uncertainty due to the pandemic. We also talked about the positive signs we're seeing, including the pent-up demand for live entertainment that Andy has noted. But overall, we're confident the pandemic will end.
We're confident that Las Vegas will return and that we're building a venue that will capitalize on people's intense desire to gather and take part and new experience.In addition to this, with our extended timetable, we may -- has enabled us to preserve cash in the near term. It's also given us -- it's given Las Vegas time to kind of recover.
So we believe that's going to be work to our advantage that tourism and convention business will be in full swing by 2023.So in terms of your second question about when we're going to give additional information, I think with 2 years left to go. We're not really ready to get into specifics.
But overall, I just want to reiterate, we're very bullish on the opportunity.Operator And your next question comes from the line of David Beckel with Berenberg Capital.David Beckel So I had a question on Christmas Spectacular and the Rockettes. Thank you for all that color regarding engagement and social media.
I'm just curious it sort of dovetails on what you've already talked about with respect to reopening.
At what point will you need to make a go, no-go call on the Spectacular? And what are some of the contingency plans you have in place for that production this year?Andy Lustgarten So as I mentioned, we're very happy so far with the engagement we've had through social media and other -- and through our special NDC.
And I mentioned earlier, we are -- you probably picked up, we're already on sale. So we're planning on having our show. And we benefited from the bump from those -- that exposure even this past Christmas. So we're on sale right now with about 200 shows for the 2021 holiday season.
Obviously, we're going to have to continue to monitor the developments, but we're really excited about this week's decision, and we think this is just a path to begin to open. So we're planning on a show.David Beckel Great. And just to be clear, at any capacity level you'll we having a show?Andy Lustgarten I didn't say at any capacity level.
But as I said, we think this is the beginning of an opening, not the end of an opening and very much are planning on a higher capacity by next November.David Beckel Fair enough. Appreciate that. And just as a follow-up.
I'm curious if your -- the unfortunate circumstances surrounding live entertainment has left some venues and less than ideal financial condition.
Are you seeing opportunities for venue acquisition in the marketplace that look interesting as a result of the pandemic? Or is that even a marketplace you're currently interested in?Andy Lustgarten Well, let me start. We generally don't discuss M&A that are -- that we don't have planned or said exactly.
But I'll say we're focused right now on the Sphere. That's our main focus for our company and that's meaningful to growth. That's on the entertainment side.
Obviously, there is a lot of opportunity, given to your point about the financial conditions of venues, both on the entertainment as well as in our hospitality or in the restaurant business.On the Tao side, we have a really strong management team who is very focused on growth. That could be organically.
Such as in 3 weeks, we're opening up a new restaurant, Tao up in Mohegan, or maybe inorganically through either new leases or any opportunity.
But I'll tell you, there's nothing -- so we're looking at things, but at the same time, we're very focused on our base business and getting back to operations and growing and getting ourselves back and running.Operator And your next question comes from the line of David Katz with Jefferies.David Katz Number one, with respect to the Tao Group, can you just talk about whether you can be profitable at this initial stage or where that pivot point is? And my second question is really around New York sports betting, which has become topical.
What your interest level is, what your expected engagement might be and how you see yourselves playing a role in that?Andy Lustgarten Absolutely. So on the Tao side, it's -- the operating restrictions have been extremely fluid in that environment. So remember, we have both dining as well as nightlife and hospitality.
Both don't necessarily have the same capacity restrictions and don't necessarily have the same between cities and even within the cities of in a state and definitely not between different states. So it's really hard to give you a single number that says here's where we're profitable. But I will say the momentum is moving in the right direction.
Today, New York City reopened dining at 25%. It's been outside, which obviously has been not the best operating conditions. And I think it's the first step towards going to higher capacities. There's still a curfew at 10:00 p.m. here in New York City on entertainment.
So that will obviously be a big restriction that will affect performance in the long run. But again, as things get better, we're hoping that, that restriction changes as well.In other markets, there's different indoor dining and outdoor dining restrictions, and it will be -- it's really case-by-case.
But we do feel like most of the locations we're in are all moving in the right direction.
Protocols between our safety and healthy protocols, we're proving that we can be health and safety -- very safe for our customers, and we feel good about the Tao Group’s path to profitability.On the gaming side, yes, there's been a lot of noise, especially or a lot of talk right here in New York City about or New York State about gaming, and we're very thrilled that Governor Cuomo's recent announcement that they're intending to pursue level for gaming.
So many times, there's -- we very much like sports gaming and what the impact is on consumer experience in terms of engagement. We think that it just further drives people's interest in sports, so it's very strong given that we have 2 tenants, tenants here in New York, The Garden.
We note that Governor Cuomo said approximately 20% of all New Jersey sports wagering has come from New York residents. So we're very bullish about what does that mean for New York. And you might have noticed that the Metal Lands, which opened in 2018, is now one of the largest sports books in the country.
So again, piques our interest as to what we could do here. Obviously, the legislation is going to affect how we could play. But I'll note, in D.C., Capital One Arena with The Wizards on Capital partnered with William Hill to create a sports book. The Cubs in Chicago have partnered with DraftKings and is pursuing a sports book inside Wrigley Field.
Those are opportunities for us. And I'll also note that here at MSG Entertainment, we represent MSG network through an advertising agreement and MSG Sports through a sponsorship arrangement.
And so as both of those businesses continue to receive the benefits of the advertising and sponsorship from sports betting, you will see or sports gaming where we'll see the effect on MSG Entertainment results as well. So we feel pretty good.
There's lots of opportunity, and we look forward to hearing more about the rules and the regulations that will become into place as global sourcing incomes becomes authorized.Operator And your last question is from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.Unidentified Analyst This is Marianne on for Ben. Just one question on reopening in New York.
If there's anything you guys can share on what you're hearing from the state in terms of for the reopening plans and capacity, and what you're doing during the interim process to prepare for a fuller reopening down the line that can impact the financials that aren't fully obvious to us today.Andy Lustgarten So I think we talked a lot about the path reopening, and we really -- we're thrilled with the 10%.
But I really in the sense that we believe this is the beginning of the path towards reopening, not the end of that.
There'll be as -- not that -- of those who follow the governor and actually and even said this in the very beginning in terms of the way he's thinking about reopening or I think this is 8 months ago, right? He laid out periods of time that said, as caseloads come down, as hospitalizations come down, he opens up certain sectors of the economy.
We're now turning to the entertainment and dining, which I think is a very important sector for New York City to come back because that's what will drive New York's resurgence. And so this is the beginning of the reopening.
And as caseloads continue to go down and hospitalizations go down, we're expecting capacity to continue to go up.In terms of the second part of your question of what would we be hitting? I mean I think, look, we're -- we have an infrastructure. We need to continue to build back up our arena staff and or -- including our ushers and F&B.
But that's it's -- that's about training and development. And we expect that, that will continue to grow as we increase capacity.
And so we're very focused on our first event on the 23 -- sorry, the 26? 23 right? 23 and look forward to hosting a next Warriors game, and we look forward to just beginning the beginning of us welcoming fans back to The Garden.Operator So I would now like to turn the call back over to Ari Danes.Ari Danes Thank you all for joining us.
We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call. Have a good day.Operator Thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your participation. You may now disconnect..