By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
The much-hyped Formula 1 car race in the Las Vegas tourist corridor was not slated until Nov. 18, 2023. But even in early November two weeks before the road race, veteran restaurant owner Gino Ferraro noticed the Las Vegas Grand Prix’s financial impact on his well-known Italian restaurant.
During the four days of the popular SEMA car show in Las Vegas in early November, Ferraro’s Ristorante at 4480 Paradise Rd down the road from the Las Vegas Convention Center typically generates $238,000 in revenues. But during the same four days during the 2023 car show before the F1 race, revenues were slashed to $142,000, Ferraro told LVSportsBiz.com Monday.
In all, the Formula 1 race along the Strip corridor cost him about $2.5 million in revenues and $500,000 in profits, Ferraro said in a LVSportsBiz.com interview with his son and restaurant co-partner, Mimmo.
“This cannot go on every year,” Ferraro said. “They shut down our bloodline.”
A week ago, Ferraro wrote a letter entitled, “F1-Las Vegas Disaster.”
He sent it to Clark County commissioners, who approved F1 owner Liberty Media’s race event for the 3.8-mile course; the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors (LVCVA), Las Vegas’ public tourism agency that approved a $19.5 million deal with F1 and federal and state officials like Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Ferraro said he has not heard back from any officials.
The LVCVA is holding its monthly meeting at the Las Vegas Convention Center meeting room Tuesday, but its agenda makes no mention of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and the business impact concerns expressed by so many in Las Vegas.
Here’s Ferraro in his words:
Public relations consultant Lisa Mayo, representing several business owners who lost millions of dollars in revenues because of the car race, told the county commission during a meeting’s public comments period last week that the business owners who lost money want to be compensated by the county, the LVCVA and F1. The business owners want to avoid filing a class-action lawsuit, and want to be compensated for their losses.
Mayo also sent emails to the county commissioners to discuss the topic of the businesses getting financially hurt and hopes to meet one-on-one with each commissioner.
LVSportsBiz.com has also learned that Las Vegas Grand Prix official Renee Wilm is meeting with Ellis Island founder Gary Ellis Tuesday to discuss the issue of businesses getting financially hurt from the F1 event in Las Vegas.
During the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the three-day F1 event in mid-November, the scene inside the restaurant “was reminiscent of Covid,” Mimmo Ferraro said. He noted a typical night would bring about 300 customers to Ferraro’s, but only 30 people showed up each night during the three-day race event Nov. 16-18.
“They made it a non-inclusive event for the locals,” MImmo Ferraro said.
It’s unclear why the county commissioners approved the Formula 1 race in the first place without understanding the implications of handing over 3.8 miles of the most vital public roads in the South Nevada market to a private sports promoter for a 90-minute race. The months of F1 prep work on roads and public right-of-ways were brutal on commerce and transportation. It even took another four to six weeks after the grand prix to remove the race equipment and grandstands and open all the right-of-ways.
LVCVA CEO Steve Hill pushed the car race event, with Las Vegas Grand Prix project manager Terry Miller attending public meetings to update officials on road closures and paving schedules. F1 wants Clark County to pay $40 million toward the $80 million road paving work for the race.The county commission voted, 4-3, in June to start negotiations with Formula 1 on the $40 million road paving request.
These four county commissioners voted to negotiate with F1: Jim Gibson, Ross Miller, Tick Segerblom and William McCurdy II. The three dissenting county commissioners were Michael Naft, Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Justin Jones.
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