F1 Pledges to Leave Vegas Less Pissed Off This Year

Posted on: May 30, 2024, 01:31h. 

Last updated on: May 30, 2024, 02:20h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

Facing a massive local backlash for the disruptions caused by its inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix last year, F1 promises faster and more efficient race preparations its second time around.

Hilton Grand Vacations advertises “front row access” to the Las Vegas Grand Prix to hundreds of motorists inconvenienced by preparations for the race last year. (Image: FoxNews)

“We will not be going through the same level of disruption we went through last year in terms of the track build,” Brian Yost, COO of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, which co-sponsors the Las Vegas Grand Prix, told The Racer blog on Thursday.

The backlash includes a $50K lawsuit filed in April by the off-Strip casino Ellis Island and a Change.org petition, posted earlier this month by six businesses claiming $30 million in lost revenue due to F1’s transformation of the busiest tourist corridor in the US into a private racetrack.

That petition, which urges Clark County to deny F1 a special use permit to close streets for the race “until a fair and undisruptive plan can be made to host this event without closing the Las Vegas Strip,” has 2,702 signatures so far.

Race to the Bottom

While last year’s race was widely reported to pump $1.5 billion into the Las Vegas economy, most of that impact went into the pockets of F1 and multibillion-dollar casino companies more likely to share the wealth with their senior executives than their casino floor staff.

Meanwhile, dozens of off-Strip casinos, more than a dozen small businesses located inside the circuit, and hundreds of thousands of tourists and casino employees all lost time and money when F1 prep work locked up Las Vegas Boulevard for more than six months.

Yost also promised that ways to further minimize the race’s disruption – such as alternative routes — would be better communicated before this year’s race.

“This year, that communication will be even further enhanced,” he said, “whether it’s to the general public, whether it’s to the hotel visitors, whether it’s to the employees, the over 120,000 men and women that work up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, we will make sure that word is out.”

A stronger community and communications plan will reportedly be outlined next month.

Emily Prazer, F1’s chief commercial officer, added that the involvement of so many casino stakeholders, including Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, and Wynn Resorts, means that the race has the financial wherewithal to improve its efficiency in year two.

My take on it is we’ve kind of proven the logistics side of it,” she added. “Now we need to shorten the time of which it takes us to build things, which we’re working on — again with the support of everyone here.”

The 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix will take place November 21-23 and feature a Saturday night race, as it did in 2023.