The president of the Las Vegas Grand Prix feels “very comfortable and confident” that the Formula One event will secure a contract renewal to keep racing beyond 2025.
F1 staged its inaugural race in Las Vegas on a street track that included the city’s famous strip in 2023, starting a three-year agreement that expires after the next edition on November 22.
Although commissioners in Clark County approved plans in February 2023 for the race to take place the week before Thanksgiving each year through to 2032, stakeholders are still discussing a renewal beyond this year’s grand prix.
“As with everything, contracts come to an end. However, with all of the different stakeholders in Vegas, we are going through a renewal process, so we’re feeling very comfortable that the race will continue,” said Emily Prazer, the president of the Las Vegas GP.
“Obviously, everybody is very dedicated to this. The results have shown that the destination appreciates what we’re doing. So all roads are leading to long-term relationships with the casinos and with the LVCVA (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority).”
Prazer added: “We’re very comfortable and confident that will continue. There doesn’t seem to be any signs to say it won’t. As always, the devil is in the detail, but all of it is just a negotiation at the end of the day.”
F1 spent over half a billion dollars to get the Las Vegas GP on the calendar, serving as the promoter for the race that also enjoyed support from the major casinos in Las Vegas and local authorities.
It was designed to boost the sport’s standing in the United States, becoming the third American race after the Miami GP and the United States GP in Austin, Texas. F1 was confident it would “make a lot of money in Vegas over the long term.”
An economic study released this month revealed that last year’s Las Vegas GP had an overall economic impact of $934 million and raised $45 million in taxes, $15.5 million of which will go to Nevada schools.
However, there has been some local opposition to the race, particularly before the first running due to the construction work and repaving process, which sparked frustration from many working around the track.
Prazer said officials in Las Vegas were “starting to see tides turn with much more support” locally as they continued to learn from the first two years and understand how to best connect with the local community.
“Everybody’s acknowledging that it’s been a build and a learn,” Prazer said. “But we’re really starting to understand what people want to see, not just from the race perspective, but from week in, week out, how are we immersing ourselves in the local community and playing the part we need to play to continue to create a legacy in the destination?”
In a call with investors last month, Derek Chang, the CEO of F1’s parent company, Liberty Media, said the Las Vegas GP had “missed internal expectations on revenue” last year. This was chiefly due to ticket sales, which has prompted a change in the pricing strategy for this year.
Prazer explained this included a renewed focus on accessibility, reducing the price of the cheapest three-day general admission ticket from $600 to $400, and selling more single-day tickets in response to local demand. Officials previously looked to lean into the last-minute nature of the Vegas sports market and focused more heavily on three-day ticket packages.
“Adjusting the product and the pricing is more lessons learned than it is supply and demand,” Prazer said, noting that “softer” ticket sales in year two were typical for a major sporting event.
The Liberty Media investors’ call also revealed that the Las Vegas GP team had been fully integrated into F1’s commercial team in London, ensuring a closer collaboration in the running of the race.
Prazer thought Las Vegas had served as a “test bed for the wider business to be a little bit more risky and come up with some new ideas,” saying the opening ceremony for the 2023 race helped give F1 confidence it could successfully produce its F1 75 Live event at The O2 in London this February.
“We feel (the race) has served as the halo effect for the sport, generally speaking, has been significant,” Prazer said.
“We’ve talked about this quite a lot and how I said about the test bed, but also the global revenue that has been driven out of the Las Vegas Grand Prix is also significant.
“So with the integration, it means that we can also stop looking at it as just like this independent P&L (profit and loss) and look at it as it’s serving to grow other commercial revenue streams for Formula One.”
(Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
