Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The LVCVA, Las Vegas’ public tourism agency, was in a spending mood Tuesday.
The LVCVA board approved a $100 million sponsorship payment to the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix from 2028-2037 and LVCVA CEO Steve Hill’s new annual salary of $566,755 plus a $240,603 bonus — more than $800,000 a year.
And the LVCVA attendees were treated to LVCVA consultant Jeremy Aguero’s economic report, presented in a way that the effervescent, fast-talking Aguero can only deliver.
Aguero’s Applied Analysis makes $250,000 a year as LVCVA’s consultant, plus another $100,000 a year in special work for a total of $350,000 a year, Hill told LVSportsBiz.com after a Dec. 2025 LVCVA board meeting. Aguero is also consultant for F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Aguero mentioned the obvious, but it’s worth repeating: No other city in the U.S. relies so much on a single economic sector like Las Vegas does with its tourism industry.
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People in Las Vegas sure get worked up by the disruptions and headaches caused by four months of installing and breaking down the F1 race track along the Strip and surrounding streets.
But in a matter of minutes, the folks who oversee Las Vegas’ public tourism agency handed out $100 million in public dollars to the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in the form of what the LVCVA calls a “sponsorship.”
Paying F1 for the grand prix is hardly new. In May 2022, the LVCVA board approved a three-year $19.5 million deal for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 races. That’s $6.5 million a year. In Aug. 2025, the board then upped the annual sponsorship to $10 million a year for each of the 2026 and 2027 races.
F1 will also work on a road safety awareness campaign in an effort to lower the number of more than 400 crashes of drivers hitting students near schools a year, said LVCVA board member Michael Naft, who is chairman of the Clark County Commission.
Naft also would like the 17-week period from September to Jan. 1 when F1 builds and takes apart the race track in the Strip corridor to be compressed to a shorter time so that the disruptions to commerce and traffic are less.
Hill said F1 can install more permanent track equipment to shorten the four-month period of race impacts on life along the Strip and in the Strip business corridor.
The new $100 million extension continues the $10 million annual payment from 2028 to 2037.
After the meeting, Hill declined to discuss his salary increase.
The LVCVA also approved payments for the Pac-12 basketball tournament of $600,000 in 2027 and 2928 and $1 million for a gymnastics event in July 2031.
PSA