LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Ticket revenue is expected to be lower in Year 2 of the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix (LVGP), the race’s chief executive officer said on Thursday.
“We would note the all-in cost of a Vegas race weekend has come into line with the other U.S. races,” according to LVGP CEO Renee Wilm. She made the comment during the third-quarter earnings call for Liberty Media, which owns F1.
“Aggregate ticket revenue will be down from what we originally budgeted in Q1,” she said. Balancing the lower ticket revenues are cost savings that F1 is achieving this year, along with sponsorships that have grown since the race came to Las Vegas. “We are working hard to focus on getting the best profitability that we can from Vegas and again we would refer you to the broader benefit that it does bring to the F1 ecosystem,” Wilm said.
F1 officials talked extensively about the Nov. 21-23 Las Vegas race during the earnings call.
“We are weeks away from the second Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Las Vegas race has continued to serve as a testbed of innovation that we can leverage across the broader F1 calendar, including opportunities in hospitality, generating sponsorship and licensing,” Stefano Domenicali, Formula One president and CEO, said. He described new F1 merchandise developed in partnership with the Vegas Golden Knights and the Las Vegas Raiders. That’s on top of national licensing deals with Peanuts, Hot Wheels and Lego.
A free daytime F1 event will take place on the Strip, across the street from Wynn Las Vegas and north of the Fashion Show mall.
A TV deal with ESPN expires at the end of 2025, and F1 officials are weighing its options and expecting a richer deal.
“ESPN’s been a great partner. We will look to see what we can do with them but there’s also a lot of other interest,” Greg Maffei, Liberty Media president and CEO, said. “We’ll try and construct the deal that manages to both bring the best economic opportunity for F1 but even more importantly, perhaps, expose our fans to the best experience in a logical way across as much breadth as possible. As always, we’re going to play between economics and reach and hopefully come up with the best result for our F1 fans and for ourselves.”
It’s a unique situation in a sport that built its U.S. popularity around the Netflix series, “Drive to Survive.”
Netflix has secured “Monday Night Raw,” the flagship weekly show for WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). That deal was worth a reported $5 billion. Will more sports programming become a Netflix staple?
Domenicali has said that F1 was unlikely to break up its media rights into smaller chunks when the ESPN deal expires.
And while F1 and NASCAR’s Xfinity Series don’t have a lot in common, 33 live Xfinity races are going to a home on The CW, yet another example of new alignments for sports that have called networks their homes forever.
The value of the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix to any media rights deal is significant.
Among other ways the race helps the F1 ecosystem: ticket prices. Las Vegas has the highest ticket prices, according to comparisons posted over the past year on travel and racing websites. Those prices have come down dramatically since Year 1, when they didn’t come down until the race was about two weeks away. Prices posted on Thursday — two weeks ahead of this year’s races — included grandstand seats as low as $250 and general admission tickets from $99 in the South Koval Zone. Three-day tickets start at $1,200 for the T-Mobile Grandstands, up to $1,600 for the Heineken Silver Main Grandstand.
A promotion introduced last week brought some seats at the $1,200 price down to $672.
Race officials added the general admission option this year.
Stepping up to a package that includes extras means much higher prices — the “Vegas-style” options advertised as race experiences. Prices begin at $1,399 and go up to $5,799 … and then all the way up to the 3-day Paddock Club package at $18,629.
Resorts like Wynn Las Vegas, Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Caesars Palace and others offer their own exclusive packages, usually including hotel stays and race perks. Wynn advertises one package at $45,000 and room rates on the weekend are $1,700.
MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment control most of the resorts on the racecourse. Bookings and package sales for the race started much slower this year than in Year 1. But both casino giants said it would be a good weekend due to additional demand as the Raiders play the Denver Broncos at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, the day after the main race.
F1 has a pair of new sponsors that signed on when the race came to Las Vegas — American Express and LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton). Sponsorships generate millions of dollars for F1. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority pays F1 $19.5 million for the right to have races in Las Vegas through 2025, and another $12 million partnership that gives LVCVA an advertising presence at other F1 races around the world.
