VIP ice rink, free festival: can the 2024 Las Vegas GP be ‘something for everyone’?

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On any flight from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, anyone looking out the window at the Strip cannot miss the presence of Formula 1.

At night, the bright red F1 logo protrudes from the top of the permanent pit building structure known as Grand Prix Plaza, even amid the lights and neon of Las Vegas. A lasting reminder of F1’s commitment to its latest American race.

And if you look closer, you might see something else on the roof this year: an ice rink.

“You wouldn’t see us doing that anywhere else,” Emily Prazer, F1 and Las Vegas Grand Prix’s chief commercial officer, told a select group of media, including The Athletics.

“But the idea is: ‘how do we create more entertainment offerings?’”

These days, F1 is about so much more than just what’s on the track. Every race wants to be a spectacle that goes beyond the sporting event itself, especially in a city like Las Vegas that thrives on that kind of approach. It meant that the show surrounding the Grand Prix last year, to the chagrin of some drivers, was just as important as what happened in the race.

Prazer said F1 had taken on board feedback from last year’s event, which was deliberately “very Vegas-driven”, given the buy-in from local authorities and major casinos. “It’s a destination that demands entertainment, but we wanted the entertainment to be as good as the racing,” she said. While there was confidence it would be good racing, it meant F1 wanted to “overcompensate” with its off-track offering.

“We said, OK, let’s turn it up 15 levels, which I think we did in the first year,” Prazer said. “But the idea is to scale it back a little bit. We felt like we did too much. Wednesday night (opening ceremony) was a one-off. I’ll never spend that much money on a 30-minute show again. We were nominated for an Emmy, but other than that it was a project in itself.”

Las Vegas organizers are planning a quieter event for 2024, which Prazer described as a “scale back.” There will be no new opening ceremony, and the Netflix Cup event that pitted F1 drivers against professional golfers will not return, which Prazer admitted “didn’t really do much for the person who came to Vegas.”

The focus has shifted to a more community-oriented approach to making the Grand Prix more accessible, particularly to Las Vegas locals, some of whom have expressed frustration with the pressures of the event, particularly the disruption to roads in the months leading up to the race in its first year.

A key part of this will be the fan festival on the Friday and Saturday of the Grand Prix race weekend. F1 made 30,000 free tickets available each day. All of them sold out quickly upon registration. The festival will include the support paddock for the recently announced Ferrari Challenge race and a show run by F1 Academy. The aim is to bring more of a Super Bowl-like atmosphere to the F1 weekend.

A look at part of the fan area at the 2023 Las Vegas GP. The 2024 race will feature a larger fan festival. (IPx via Associated Press)

“Vegas is known for people flocking there during big events anyway,” Prazer said. “If you talk to anyone in Vegas, and the casinos too, during a Super Bowl, it’s great that the Super Bowl was there, but they’re so busy during the Super Bowl anyway.

“We wanted to take that idea and make the city as busy as possible, even though people don’t necessarily come to the Grand Prix.”

The fan festival will give those without race action tickets or those simply curious about F1 a chance to get a taste of the sport. The hope is that it will improve accessibility to a race that was criticized last year for its price of tickets and heavy focus on luxury hospitality – the most expensive suite last year cost $50,000 for the weekend – rather than catering to more “traditional” race fans. Prazer pointed out that tickets to the Las Vegas GP include unlimited food, saving fans money they would otherwise spend at other races.

Nevertheless, the feedback led to an adjustment in the ticket inventory for the second year, as a number of catering establishments were replaced by approximately 5,000 general admission (GA) tickets.

“Initially we thought, ‘OK, it’s a big, sexy new event, we’re going to have a lot of hospitality,'” Prazer said. “We’ve learned that lesson. We now have much more accessible tickets, GA zones, something for everyone, rather than just something for the high end.”

Red Bull Hospitality at the 2023 Las Vegas GP. (Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via AP)

Prazer didn’t expect the shift in ticketing approach to lead to a drop in revenue. “The cost of running some of these hospitality structures is eye-watering,” she said. “So it will balance itself out.”

Nor does it mean abandoning the true ‘Vegas’ identity that F1 relied so heavily on last year. “I think it’s super important that every race has its own identity,” Prazer said. “If we don’t ultimately go down the route of being all Vegas and whatever, we could have an impact on Austin, which is obviously all about Texas and BBQ and everything it should be.”

The rink will serve as another calling card for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, along with the paddock chapel or the slot machine sign above the pit entrance, which can’t be done in quite the same way anywhere else. The addition of the rink is part of a crossover with the Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey team planned for this year, which aims to provide VIP Paddock Club members with an additional activity. “When you look at the size of the Paddock Club and making sure you’re using all the space, it was one of those ‘what do we do?’ ideas,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

In 2023, Las Vegas was about fun, but it was also about F1 proving the concept could work and convincing locals it was worth the disruption. According to a report commissioned by Clark County, the event’s economic impact last year was estimated at $1.5 billion, higher than February’s Super Bowl, which brought in about $1 billion.

But that didn’t stop disgruntled locals from voicing their concerns to local officials about the disruption, particularly over the resurfacing of the roads that formed the circuit. The added difficulty of rerouting commuters or seeing door-to-door travel swell over time made F1 a target even when the work had nothing to do with the race.

People watch Formula 1 practice from another circuit in Las Vegas, United States, on November 18, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via AP)

Prazer said the race would be an “easier sell” to locals this time around because the economic impact is now clearly visible to the public and there are no unknowns of a first event or having to repeat much of last year’s work.

There continues to be a drive for improvement from the people of Las Vegas. Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick told Fox 5 Vegas in June that Formula 1 must improve towards 2024, otherwise there is a risk that there will be “no third time”.

Prazer called Kirkpatrick a “legend” and welcomed her investment in the race. “She’s pushed us to be better, making sure we put plans in place and making sure we execute them,” Prazer said. “Just making sure they’re part of the process has been really important.” F1 has partnered with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority this year and is working more closely with the Clark County Commission to improve communications with locals.

With over half a billion dollars in investment, F1 Las Vegas is here to stay. It made its statement with its flashy debut last year. By 2024, it wants to anchor itself as part of the community.

“As with anything, it takes time to grow, build and continue to give back,” Prazer said.

Top photo: Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire, David Becker/Formula 1, Chris Graythen/Formula 1 via Getty Images; Design: Meech Robinson/The Athletics