Las Vegas F1 is here to stay

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has voted in favor of bringing the Formula One Grand Prix to the world’s gambling capital for at least three years.

a $19.5m sponsorship deal with F1

At its Tuesday board meeting, the LVCVA approved a $19.5m sponsorship deal with F1, which starts November 2023 and continues in 2024 and 2025. Las Vegas Review-Journal sports journalist Mick Akers took to Twitter last week to share the sponsorship details ahead of the decision:

The LVCVA will pony up to $6.5m per year for services connected to the races, which include communications and traffic control. The tourism body agreed the deal with Liberty Dice, a Nevada-registered sub-brand of Formula One owner Liberty Media.

“The scale of Formula One is huge, and it’s growing,” said LVCVA CEO Steve Hill. “The audience for their events, worldwide, is over 80 million people per race. That rivals the Super Bowl.”

Mutually beneficial

The LVCVA-Liberty partnership gives both entities significant exposure and, in the latter’s case, expansion opportunities. As part of the deal, Liberty gets to use the Las Vegas Convention Center, complete with up to 10,000 volunteers, reports the Las Vegas Sun.

On Tuesday, Hill stated the partnership is:

a sign that Las Vegas is back, and Las Vegas is the place to be.”

In an earnings call Friday, Liberty Media’s CEO Greg Maffei confirmed his firm purchased a 39-acre plot of land east of the Strip for $240m, where it will build the pit and paddock complex for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. In the same meeting, F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali described the Vegas Grand Prix as “a Saturday night race down the iconic Strip.”

“We cannot think of a more perfect marriage of speed and glamour,” he added.

Formula One announced its intentions to host a 50-lap Sin City Grand Prix back in March. The 6.12km track will feature 14 turns and will run for 3.8 miles past landmarks including Caesars Palace and the Bellagio Fountains. The F1 drivers will hit top speeds of around 340kmh on the circuit, with an expected audience of 170,000 spectators to cheer them on.

Vegas’ sports business growth

The announcement of the motor racing league’s purchase of land in Las Vegas — coupled with the news Tilman Fertitta is planning on buying six-acres on The Strip for an upmarket resort — may soften the impact of the exodus of casino giants from the Strip in recent months.

With the Las Vegas Raiders franchise now based and playing out of Sin City, and Formula One coming in November, the gambling capital of the world is clearly speeding up its growth as a sporting hub. For locals and visitors who are bettors, sports fans, or both, Formula One in Vegas has major pulling power.