Settlement Between Las Vegas Businesses and F1/Clark County ‘Not Impossible,’ According To New Las Vegas Grand Prix President
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The new president of the Las Vegas Grand Prix told LVSportsBiz.com Thursday it’s “not impossible” for Formula 1 and Clark County to settle with four local Las Vegas businesses that filed lawsuits claiming they lost millions of dollars because of the November road race.
In a wide-ranging conversation about F1 and Las Vegas with LVSportsBiz.com, F1 LVGP President Emily Prazer said it’s “not impossible” to reach a settlement with the businesses but she declined to comment further on the legal action brought by Ellis Island hotel-casino, restaurants Battista’s Hole in a Wall and Ferraros Ristrorante and business Stage Door Casino.
Other business owners also said they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues from the November race because the course’s protective concrete barriers and fencing limited access for their customers, while other customers avoided the area because of the traffic.
Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson instructed county staff to look into reaching a settlement over the F1 lawsuits. County Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom said Thursday he had no details about any potential settlement talks. LVSportsBiz.com contacted two of Gibson’s assistants to have the county commissioner offer a comment on any potential settlement talks, but we did not hear back.
Lisa Mayo-DeRio, a representative for the businesses that filed the lawsuits, said today she had no comment.
Prazer struck a reconciliatory and friendly tone in her talk with LVSportsBiz.com. acknowledging “we made mistakes” during the process of launching a major road race and startup event from scratch for a 3.8-mile race course in the Strip corridor in 2023.
“Hindsight is a beautiful thing,” observed Prazer, who has worked on corporate sponsorships and partnerships for Colorado-based Formula 1. She took over the role of Las Vegas Grand Prix president in February, succeeding F1 legal executive Renee Wilm.
As Prazer put it, “We did a startup with no playbook.”
She acknowledged that staging the F1 race in 2023 could have been too early because there was not enough time to reach out to the Las Vegas community and make connections like other major sports events in Las Vegas did such as NFL Super Bowl 58 in Feb. 2024. Holding the inaugural race in Nov. 2024 would have given F1 organizers more time to lay the groundwork for grand prix outreach.
“We should have taken more time,” Prazer acknowledged.
Instead, the first grand prix in Las Vegas, which included a big segment of the Strip, drew a black eye in Year 1 in 2023 for an event that disrupted commerce and transportation while seeking ticket prices that locals observed were way out of their price range.
In Year 2 in 2024, the LVGP lowered ticket prices, made connections in the community and did not ask Clark County to reimburse F1 for the cost of paving the race section of the Strip for $40 million. F1 relied on a 17-week race prep road program that involved installing the track mostly overnight when there was less traffic. F1 dismantled the track by the end of December a month after the race.
Prazer said F1 race host communities typically pay the race promoter $25 million to $100 million to have a Formula 1 event in their city. She said Las Vegas did not write a check to F1, though it must be noted Clark County gave Formula 1 the run of the Strip among the 3.8 miles of close public roads for the circuit.
Prazer said her staff are listening to locals and want to be a part of the market’s growing local sports scene.
She noted F1 invested more than $500,000 million in building the paddock structure at Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane, which is the nerve center of the Las Vegas F1 race event, and plans to open a F1-inspired karting experience called “F1 Drive” at the Grand Prix Plaza, giving fans the chance to race on a 1,650-foot-long track.
F! LVGP plan on selling tickets for $50 for the first practice night, $100 for the second day and $300 for race day. There’s also a three-day package for $400. Keep in mind these are get-in ticket prices and do not include fees and charges.
