Did Las Vegas F1 draw HALF attendance in 2024?

No other major sports event divided Las Vegas like the second Las Vegas Grand Prix that ended late Saturday night.

The promoter, Liberty Media-owned Formula One, staged a high-end sports event that attracted rich fans from Europe that was the big calling card for the LVCVA public tourism agency and its CEO, Steve Hill, who was also chief Las Vegas booster of this highly controversial race. Celebrities like to attend, too.

In Year 2 of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the average ticket price was down from the inaugural event in Nov. 2023 and so was attendance.

Formula One came to Las Vegas in 2023 and immediately became persona non grata for attempting to shake down businesses with a view of the track for $1,500 per customer and even Clark County for $40 million for paving the 3.8 miles of road surfaces along Las Vegas Boulevard, Harmon Avenue, Koval Lane and Sands Avenue. F1 backed off in both cases after a very harsh response from Las Vegas locals.

But four businesses have filed lawsuits against both F1 and Clark County, alleging they lost millions of dollars of revenues and claiming the county fast-tracked the race’s permit approvals and improperly processed the various event applications. The county’s debriefing report later said Clark County actually lost more than $460,000 in handling F1’s event permits.

Topics:
0:00 The first F1 race was impressive
1:12 The inconvenience of F1 in Vegas
1:50 Was attendance really low?
4:03 They SAID 315k fans in 2023... but...
4:35 F1 was expecting 102k fans per night
5:57 Ticket prices were lower in 2024
7:27 MY TAKEAWAYS

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#f1 #vegas #sports

[brodiebrazil]

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[txtmstrjoe]

Attendance would be better if real F1 fans like me (I have been a fan since I was a child in the 1980s) could actually AFFORD to buy a ticket.

[RogerGrant-ftvu]

Reality is most races are best watched at home. Especially a race where a fan sees just flashes of cars go by.

[johnandrewbertonjr.]

I'm a long-time F1 fan (since 1963!) and regularly attend the F1 race in Austin. Several things: 1st, F1 sells most of the tickets to the Vegas race to the big casinos and to other groups who offer packages of rooms, food, tours, hospitality etc. Once those tickets are sold, they count as attendance as far as F1 is concerned. So "tickets sold" and bottoms in chairs may not line up. 2nd - A nice GA ticket where you can watch good racing and move about the track costs ~$400 for a weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin. GA in Vegas, where you can't move and actually are not guaranteed to even see the track is ~$900. A grandstand seat in Vegas, again with limited mobility and views, is 3x the price of the USGP in Austin. Most American F1 fans can't take that. It's cheaper to buy a flight and a hotel and go see a race in Europe than it is to see the race in Vegas. Lastly, Vegas looks fantastic at night, but it's cold, it's dark, the cars can't perform at peak performance and the TV time is impossible on the East Coast. It's a Grand Prix designed to be enjoyed on TV by the people in the Middle East who invest in promoting and staging F1. I think most agree that if the race was moved to the daytime, Vegas would not look good. The Vegas GP is an attempt to create an American Monaco with all the attendant glitz and ostentation. They are making the Vegas GP the Season Finale next year to increase its cache as a feature race. Will this pan out? As you say, "Gentlemen and Ladies, lay your bets."

[TurboBird]

The average person can't afford to buy F1 tickets...the average person can barely afford the essentials to live right now.

[RandumbTech]

It was so poorly managed last year that people avoided it like the plague this year.

[Ponyo]

Tickets were more expensive than getting a hotel room with a view of the track. Worthless race in my opinion. 800$ for the worst ticket is a joke.

[StudioVoodooMusic]

The race started at 10:30 and was over by Midnight. All of that money and preparation for such little reward. At least in Long Beach they have amateur races and other events. This seems like a huge giveaway from Nevada and Vegas to F1, nothing more. Vegas isn't benefitting from this. It's not even a wash.

[digitalawareness]

My wife and I are big F1 fans. We looked last year and again this year and an all in 3 day package would have been $15, 000. Too much! Same package in Austin was $3, 800…

[mrjeffwithaG]

it's like the Olympics or World Cup. It costs so much to prepare, it's virtually impossible to turn a profit.

[CaptainPlanet]

I am a Vegas local and from a local POV there was never a honeymoon. Its been hell since inception. We have wanted a hellish divorce since the beginning. lol :) I heard very very little about the race this year though.
Road construction wasn't as bad this year but F1 was more trouble than its been worth because its inconvenienced so many business owners and employees of the strip.

Thanks for the great video Brodie.

[Scantronimus]

As a Vegas resident, I hope so. The quicker F1 fails, the quicker we can stop having three months of construction and other nonsense on the Strip every year.

[joetrapp]

The whole “sports in Las Vegas” thesis is dependent on real sports fans being 10x wealthier than we really are.

[johnbraun]

Everyone I talked to - taxi, Uber, restaurants...hate it for the hassle.

[alohastate]

Tickets prices were cheaper but still too expensive for me. And I live 10 minutes from the race. I'll go when prices are in the double digits.

[marioq]

I live in Vegas and I know there was a ton of hype and excitement last year for the race but the experience many people had turned many off for this years race. I think the inconvenience and prices people paid coming into Vegas for the race last year caused many people to stay home. I stayed away from the area but others have told me it was not nearly as crowded as last year.

[mrAhollandjr]

I was in Vegas just before the 2023 race . I can't tell you how expensive it was on the Strip. Traffic was insane due to the construction.

[tonylabianca]

I've lived in LV for 43 years. I love this town and I like F1. I just wish that a track was built on the outside of town just like the NASCAR track we have. It would make this much easier for the locals and businesses would not be damaged.

[Kilroy]

Love all these videos Brodie. Please keep this great content coming!

[mr.nmoney]

I’m from Houston TX. F1 came here decades ago. They promised the world and city government promoted it as if there was no bad side. The city had to pay and repave the roads to meet standards. It was “special” pavement that would last for 25 years until replacement. After the race the pavement was so torn up the city had to make emergency repairs. The city had to eat the expense. Multiple businesses had to close because they lost so much business. In the end F1 was sent packing. Almost every government official was voted out. As a tourists myself I no longer come to Vegas in November. As of right now I see the same thing happening in Vegas. My mistake it was Indy not f1 but it’s still the same scenario playing out.