If you listen to Formula 1 or local officials from Las Vegas and Clark County, you’d probably think November’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success. Some sources estimated that the city of Las Vegas made over $1 billion in revenue from the event — but there were plenty of complications. Not everyone wanted the race, not everything went well and it doesn’t look as if every business got to be a part of its “success.”
Sports Illustrated and local Vegas business journal LVSportsBiz report that several local businesses weren’t satisfied with how things went down leading up to the race. They claim that things like construction led to disruption of their business and resulted in loss of revenue:
Extensive preparations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, including roadworks and infrastructure improvements, significantly impacted local businesses. Wade Bohn, a local business owner, cited a drastic drop in revenue from $8.5 million in 2022 to just over $4 million in 2023, attributing this to the inconvenience caused by F1-related activities.
Aside from the loss of revenue, there seems to be a consensus among local businesses about the race: they were misled. Some business owners claim that the economic benefits that officials sold them on were pretty much bullshit.
“We as a community got bamboozled, we got fooled. This has not ever happened before. It just steamrolled out of control,” said one business owner Randy Markin.
The business owners don’t want to make the situation more serious, though. On January 9th, representatives for the local business went before the Clark County Commission and assured them that no formal legal action would be taken; the business owners just want to get paid.
“None of us want to destroy Las Vegas. We don’t want a lawsuit. We want to turn a negative into a positive. It’s much better if the county commission, LVCVA, and F1 get together and be proactive about this problem,” said one local business owner. The chairman of the commission actually admitted that the business owners had a point.
Despite all of this, though, city, county and F1 officials keep singing about the success of the race. Business owners don’t seem like they’ll do the same until they get paid. “We don’t need the F1, the F1 needs us,” said Bohn.