When the Super Bowl comes to town it’s always a big deal – but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most towns. The F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, on the other hand, is expected to take place in Las Vegas every year from now on. In 2023 it is expected to make twice the economic impact Super Bowl LVIII will have when it comes to Allegiant Stadium in early 2024.
The Las Vegas Chamber recently highlighted the event at Las Vegas Convention Center. Preview Las Vegas was attended by Stefano Domenicali – President and CEO of Formula 1, Renee Wilm – CEO of Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc., and Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Applied Analysis which prepared an economic impact study for the return of F1 to Las Vegas after four decades of absence.
Important takeaways from the report include an expected $966 million in projected F1 visitor spending as well as $316 million in support costs and event operations. Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Wilm estimated that about 100,000 people connected to the race will be in town daily for qualification and practice laps in addition to the actual races.
Las Vegas Grand Prix a High-Value Annual Event
Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali also noted that the Las Vegas Grand Prix is going to be a yearly event, whereas the Super Bowl is coming to Nevada for the first and perhaps only time. “Super Bowl will be for one year, but we’re going to stay for a long time.
“We are going to have a continuous flag here in the city, and we are going to mark not only for the week of the event, but we are going to mark F1 in Vegas as a place where we will develop the sport,” the F1 chief said.
The report indicated that nearly 8,000 people would be employed by the race with $361 million in salaries and wages generated by the jobs.
Applied Analysis conducted another economic impact study focused on the Super Bowl, coming to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in February 2024. It indicated that the game and spin-off events would have a local economic impact of $600 million.
The company is expected to invest as much as $500 million in this year’s race and make the same amount in revenues. As for staying power in Las Vegas, F1’s owner Liberty Media, has already spent $240 million on a 39-acre plot of land adjacent to the Strip and will spend about $260m more on the 3.8-mile circuit, the pit, hospitality suites, skyboxes, restaurants and bars, and grandstands. The Paddock, to include the Wynn Grid Club, is already under construction as is some of the $30 million worth of infrastructure for the circuit.
The 3.8-mile course will run along Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip), Spring Mountain Road, Koval Lane, and Harmon Avenue.
Crews Working Three Shifts a Day
Crews are working around the clock to get the circuit ready before the cars come to town. Wilm said: “We want to make sure it’s completely finished and fully checked, operational, and ready for race weekend. We do not leave anything to chance.”
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO, Steve Hill said: “I’m not sure if you didn’t know there was a Formula 1 track being built here you wouldn’t think of anything other than the normal road infrastructure work that we have to do anyway. We’ll probably put a fancy sign on it and hope people will appreciate more that the orange cones are there. There will only be one or two lanes at a time on sections along this route.”
Festivities will run November 16 – 18. There are currently no tickets available to the public unless they get them from casino operators. MGM is said to have purchased $20 million worth of the passes.MGM and other operators are creating “all-inclusive” packages with premium spectator placement.
Plan to spend at least $100,000 for a race package from MGM, up to a million dollars from Wynn, or go all out and pick up one of the $5 million packages reportedly created by Caesars.
New releases of tickets are expected in late winter and early spring. The first tranche sold out so quickly that very few Asian or European fans could get their hands on them due to the overnight time differences. The least expensive tickets we found are $500 for the general admission standing room only. You can sign up for alerts when tickets go on sale by visiting the F1 website.
Source: At over $1B, Las Vegas F1 race projected to double Super Bowl’s economic impact, Las Vegas Review Journal, January 24, 2023