According to LVCVA, the Las Vegas Grand Prix failed to match the attendance of the 2023 race | Formula 1 | sport

The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix didn’t draw as many people to Las Vegas as the first edition in 2023, but Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, still considered it a successful event.

In an interview following Tuesday’s LVCVA board meeting, Hill said event planners would meet in the coming months to make plans for a better design for next year’s event.

Although economic impact studies have not yet been completed, it is clear that the event continues to put Las Vegas in the international spotlight, Hill said, which bodes well for future visits.

“There are no economic impact numbers yet,” Hill said. “They will certainly be lower than last year, we know that and we expected that. But it’s still a great weekend. It turns one of the slowest weeks of the year into one of the best weeks of the year. But from an economic perspective it’s not the same.”

Hill said he and several stakeholders – representatives from Formula 1, the Strip resort partners, the Clark County Health and Public Works departments and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police – would be in discussions about how to improve the race in the future.

“One of the things we have been looking at is the possible addition of personnel and equipment so we can shorten the time frame for setup and teardown,” he said. “Some of it depends a little bit on the timing of when that happens. Most of the time it just becomes more efficient with this setup and dismantling.”

LVCVA chief marketing officer Kate Wik said early statistics showed engagement and social media awareness outside of Las Vegas had easily made Formula One one of the city’s most successful events. More than 100 events and activities in addition to the race – including non-race experiences, F1 team activations and daytime and evening parties – generated interest beyond the competition.

“The coverage of race week was truly remarkable,” Wik told board members. “From Monday, November 18th to Monday, November 25th, a total of 33,716 stories were generated, resulting in over 706 billion impressions. I said it last year and I’ll say it again: there is no greater global destination focus than Formula 1.”

The stories and impressions have an estimated media value of $6 billion for the destination, she said.

Wik said it expected audited F1 figures, including global viewership statistics, next month.

There was no discussion of complaints from local small businesses who say they lost millions of dollars in revenue due to the inaccessibility of their properties during race week. During public comment, a speaker said he hopes the temporary bridge at Flamingo Road over the route will be expanded to four lanes as it was in 2023, but not this year.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first for two new board members as the board changes about a third of its members due to election results and new appointments.

New Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley attended, replacing former Mayor Carolyn Goodman, a board member for 12 years. Allegiant Travel Co. CEO Greg Anderson also attended for the first time, replacing former Allegiant executive vice president and chief marketing officer Scott DeAngelo, who resigned in September.

A future meeting will add new representatives from the city of Las Vegas and the city of Mesquite, where former councilmen Cedric Crear of Las Vegas and Brian Wursten of Mesquite were not elected.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X