Copying Super Bowl PR Strategy: Las Vegas Grand Prix Attempts to Clean Up Public Relations Mess By Giving Away Two Race Tickets To Nevada Teacher Of The Year
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Well, Formula 1 is trying.
After ticking off Las Vegas locals with race track disruptions on the Strip and causing local businesses to lose revenues, the Las Vegas Grand Prix took a page from the Las Vegas Super Bowl three months ago to work on cleaning up its public relations mess caused by the F1 race in November.
The Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee scored easy PR points by doling out free Super Bowl 58 tickets to locals for the big game at Allegiant Stadium Feb. 11.
So, the Las Vegas Grand Prix copied that feel-good tactic by handing out two free grandstand tickets Wednesday to a teacher at the Southwest and Technical Academy to celebrate her winning the Nevada Teacher of the Year award. Each grandstand ticket was valued at $1,500 so the two-ticket giveaway was worth $3,000.
Laura Jeanne Penrod won the two tickets for the 90-minute, 50-lap race that follows a 3.8-mile course through the Strip corridor. The practices and race are Nov. 21-23.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix Foundation has worked on other giveaways by providing one million meals to the Las Vegas community through Three Square Food Bank, donated $100,000 to Project 150 for 2,200 holiday meals to homeless, displaced and disadvantaged high school students, provided funds to Green Our Planet to support “farmpreneur” and school garden programs at Clark County schools, and donated funds to The Just One Project to grow its No-Cost Community Markets.
The F1 race is controversial in Las Vegas. The consensus narrative is that Clark County commissioners approved the Las Vegas Grand Prix by sacrificing small businesses and locals so that high-end hotels on the Strip could make more money than usual for that weekend. The county commissioners did not even negotiate compensation for handing over the Strip and other local public roads to Liberty Media, the Colorado-based company that owns F1.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix’s disruptions to commerce and traffic on the Strip and nearby roads were unprecedented for any event in Las Vegas and the race organizer was perceived as coming to Vegas to sell overpriced tickets without forging local community relations.
