By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — After spending tens of millions of public dollars on the NFL Super Bowl and college football’s national championship game, the Las Vegas’ public tourism agency is ready to spend a record $100 million on the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race through 2037.
The $100 million deal is on Tuesday’s LVCVA board meeting agenda. Expect the LVCVA board members, who are hotel and tourism leaders and local elected officials, to approve the $100 million sports event sponsorship deal.
It’s a stunning amount of public money for a controversial sports event that has its winners and its losers in Las Vegas and the Strip corridor.
Proponents cite visitors who spend more money than average Las Vegas tourists.
Opponents say businesses lose money because other tourists stay away from Las Vegas and that four months of installing and breaking down a race course cause traffic jams and access problems for businesses in the region’s main economic artery.
Big hotels on the F1 race course like the event because it boosts business on a weekend that is typically slow for hospitality revenues compared to most weekends. Many locals criticize the car race for disrupting business, commerce and traffic during a 17-week track installment and breakdown period from September to Jan. 1.
The three-day grand prix event is scheduled annually for the weekend before Thanksgiving.
As one race opponent put it, “They should be paying us.”
That’s not what Steve Hill and his friend, Jeremy Aguero, believe, though.
Hill, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO, quietly cut the deal for an F1 race on the Strip and surrounding public roads for an inaugural race event in 2023. Hill’s ally, Aguero, a co-owner of consulting firm Applied Analysis, generated reports that said the F1 event generated hundreds of millions of dollars in “economic impact.” Aguero’s report included F1’s $500 million paddock and garage project on Koval Lane just east of the Strip as part of the tourism event’s economic impact.
For the record, Aguero believes he’s an impartial analyst. But he’s been a consultant for Las Vegas Grand Prix, MLB Athletics, UFC and other sports promoters while being a former executive of the NFL Raiders, which worked with the Las Vegas stadium board when Aguero’s firm served as the administrative
Year 1 of the race in 2023 caused hardships for businesses and workers in the Strip corridor because the paving of the roads, the closing of traffic lanes and the limited access to business caused all types of financial losses. There was also scant community outreach in Year 1, though the grand prix has worked on connecting with locals and giving away free tickets for the race events in 2024 and 2025.
Aguero has told LVSportsBiz.com that financial losses to businesses were factored into his F1 event financial reports. The race prompted lawsuits from businesses that alleged financial losses, but F1 has settled the legal action with the plaintiffs.
LVSportsBiz.com reached out to Las Vegas Grand Prix President Emily Prazer and Aguero to get their thoughts on LVCVA’s $100 million sponsorship for the F1 race in Vegas. If we hear back, we will include their comments.
PSA