As F1 prepares for second Vegas Grand Prix, can last year’s pitfalls be avoided?

With just three months left until the race, organizers plan to expand visitor access and shorten the duration of highway construction.

Howard Stutz

Nine months later, Belgian racer Max Verstappen's Las Vegas F1 victory remains the mood of society.

The race weekend is at least 90 days away, and the event's arrangers, environmental clerks and resort industry advocates are working out all the possible steps to ensure that the 2024 race doesn't suffer death at the first turn.

But there are already many obstacles in the way. Last year, area residents said they basically didn't have any chance to attend the race because of the high ticket prices, and resort staff couldn't easily get to their jobs because of overlapping roads.

Meanwhile, more than half a dozen small business owners say the millions of dollars in revenue from the construction of the 3. 8-mile race facility has actually faded away. Ellis Island Casino, located on Koval Lane, sued Formula One in May for lost profits due to road overlaps and access piles, and other owners are also waiting for damages to be paid.

At a committee meeting on August 6, Las Vegas Grand Prix general manager Rene Wilm and other race scan rangers said they have actually taken it upon themselves to lobby the venue for Las Vegas residents.

Wilm basically promised that the time to create a racing line that covers a two-mile plot along the Strip will be reduced from nine months to three months, and all work will be done at night to eliminate the disruption of daytime and peak-hour obstructions.

With the support of an interactive road map that will be posted on the Grand Prix website and mobile application, the public will also be able to observe the progress of the circuit. The Grand Prix organizers will cooperate in developing a mobility program for the competition office and Las Vegas guests to ensure an optimal system for employees to get to work during the race weekend.

According to Wilma's writing, the guiding lesson learned by the organizers of the first event was to increase the price and availability of the race for local residents while minimizing the risk of highway development failure. In real time, the guiding principle was to arrange the Grand Prix more peacefully in relation to local spectators while satisfying the demands of selected spectators related to the race's international audience.

"We will continue to provide a wonderful VIP experience with almost all F1 fans," said Wilm, the legal officer of F1 owner, Liberty Media. But does she really say that the race organizer is betting on a cheap price? By doing so, many fans will be able to participate in the weekend races. "

Marilyn Kirk Patrick, Clark County Commissioner, is one of the most frank criticism of last year's race, but the first sign is encouraging, but to hold the event, regular casinos and racing fans can enter and leave. He said he needed to launch an appropriate project.

"Kirk Patrick has been in the committee that he has participated in a meeting before the event in 2024." We want to make sure that workers do not need to move 3 hours earlier to go to work. I want the inspectors to do better than last year.

Rene Wilm, a CEO of Las Vegas Grand Prix, spoken with Applied Analysis, a moderator at the preview Las Vegas 2024, on January 24, 2024. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)

Further sharing

Racing organizers increase the number of tickets to more than 10. 000, which is more than the number provided in the first race.

"I want everyone, including foreigners, tourists, and local residents, to have a great festival in the city," said Wilm. "I want to start a conversation about the role of our events. This was not (last year), and I will be responsible."

Part of the grand stand along Kobar Lane (the race car is close to the area where the Grand Prix Plaza is left) is a joint use. At the same time, a beautiful suite is provided near hig h-end buyers. In addition, a share space is also available near the spheres.

The ticket for the common use is $ 150 for a daily ticket. Last year, the ticket for the race was $ 500 and the ticket on the race day was $ 1. 300.

For the selected people, the highway has more than 12 luxurious suite and clubs, and the weekend tickets from November 21 to 23 are $ 3, 500 to $ 35, 000 per person.

At least, the representatives of Formula 1 do not disclose ticket sales data before competition, so it is not clear whether these configurations are acting in history.

Also, on the racing weekends, the worshiper of Formula 1 will play a free fanbox in the strip on the land, Win Resort's property, which does not exist in the race. It is organized like live, food tours and F1 attractions.

"We want to find an opportunity to invite a local residents to regenerate a part of the Las Vegas Grand Prix without purchasing a ticket to the race," Lorinel Song Craft, 100, is asked at a Darick ticket event. Added that, the senior vice president of the Grand Prix said.

According to the mirror sentence, it is not necessary to repeat last year's work on the construction of the Grand Prix Plaza (central structure that costs $ 500 million), but it contains the start, pitline, and beautiful apartments. You can save more time.

"This is a mirror that is preparing the installation process smoothly," you need to reconstruct the entire truck, but you still save time. "When we move forward and create a highway, there was more possibility."

Business access issues remain

1 However, there is a responsibility contradiction related to the movement: Bridge with a sudden notification of the flaming rock passing through the Koballaine. However, the bridge is an attempt to restrict the interruption of access to business along the road, and the business owner has been reduced from four lanes to two lanes (one lane in each direction). It was. A certain number appeared in the district committee, accusing other barriers related to roads and races, but actually millions of profits have disappeared.

"Can I get only 1 million dollars this year?" Gino Ferraro of Ristorante, a restaurant in Ferralo, who complains of the issue of the committee, says that his business in Paradise Road had damaged during the Racing Highway. Ta. "F1 will continue to destroy Las Vegas.

Randy Markin, the owner of the restaurant "Battista's Hole in the Wall" in the flamingo road and link lane, and the manager of the nearby casino "Stage Door". In 2023, the committee was asked to not repeat the permitted lap delay.

"This doesn't just apply to my company," Malkin said. "We're talking about employees who have already been facing the challenge of wage cuts for months. We're talking about the unnecessary stress and anxiety that F1's move will cause for more than 100 employees."

The upper deck of the Bellagio Funin' Club MGM Resorts International, which unveiled a photoshoot of the Bellagio fountains and the longtime Las Vegas Grand Prix line, is prominent on Nov. 17, 2023. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)

Resort industry positive on F1

MGM Resorts International Managing Director Bill Hornbackel raised a yellow warning flag during the company's second-quarter conference call on July 31, citing "softness" in hotel bookings for race weekends.

But Wilm made a simple comment: F1 is an exciting focus for the company's first year hosting the event.

"I actually had the first year [tickets] enter resale six months early," Wilm said. "People have more time to look and have a reservation number."

Hornbuckle said that the average daily room rate at MGM Resorts hotels has decreased on the loop "compared to the previous year, when a lot of the arsenal was prepared" for F1.

"We believe this race will continue to gain momentum," Hornbuckle said.

MGM Resorts said its inaugural race of the company's arrival from the strip club in the fourth quarter achieved a record value of $2. 4 billion. The bulk of the profits were made by the Bellagio Funin' Club, an ultra-risky club with three levels on the course. Most of the guests at this club were invited guests to the casino, who compensated themselves with charity tickets that they had left in the casino cells. Some guests also paid $11, 000 (about 11 million yen) for a three-day ticket.

MGM only has two properties along the F1 Strip, the Bellagio and the Cosmopolitan. MGM will return the Bellagio Faun Club and preserve its huge rooftop observation deck, but will eliminate the multi-level grandstand. The club will save the huge rooftop observation deck for the race. A company representative even said the club will be "revitalized by new customers," but declined to elaborate.

At the Cosmopolitan Hotel, MGM will actually add an observation deck on the third floor of the resort basin, from which the view will be all the way to the space where it turns left onto Harmon Avenue, part of the start-finish line, and where the Hippodrome's share of the Strip ends.

Macquerley Securities gaming analyst, Ched Baynon, in a memo after MGM's financial results, told Trader that the initial concern about F1 was "exaggerated."

According to a financial audit conducted by the Las Vega s-based consultant company Applied Analysis for the Clark area, the 2023 Grand Prix was aired to the world's largest viewers in Las Vegas and $ 884 million in the local economy. It is said that it brought a financial support. The Las Vegas GP brought $ 77 million on state taxes and local taxes, and is believed to have been a record high as one event.

According to Craft, the organizer will investigate the financial impact of this year's race.

Although the hotel's accommodation fee has fallen a year ago, MGM fans expect that this weekend will be bargain. The company's facilities on South Strip, whose races were not very active in the past year, are about 12 hours after the end of the Grand Prix, on Sunday, November 24, on Sunday, Las Vegas Raiders, a home game vs. Denver. ・ You will benefit from Broncos.

"It will be a better weekend compared to regular weekends," said MGM Resorts President Collie Sanders.

Craig Bings, CEO of Win Resorts, is visible when asked about the decrease in hotel space on the weekend of the race at the company's second quarter financial results briefing on August 5. He replied that there was no difference.

"There is no doubt that the race will work." The race will definitely work. < SPAN> Macquarley Securities gaming analyst, Chad Baynon, was a memo after reporting MGM, and the initial concern about F1 was " He told the trader that it was exaggerated.

According to a financial audit conducted by the Las Vega s-based consultant company Applied Analysis for the Clark area, the 2023 Grand Prix was aired to the world's largest viewers in Las Vegas and $ 884 million in the local economy. It is said that it brought a financial support. The Las Vegas GP brought $ 77 million on state taxes and local taxes, and is believed to have been a record high as one event.