With respect to the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix, is it all just a little bit of history repeating? Consider the following…
Back in 1980, both Formula One and the Las Vegas casinos wanted to bring the sport to Sin City. The goal was to bring visitors, money, and attention to the city along with increasing the profile of the sport in the USA. Increased television viewership in the largest and richest market in the world beckoned, everybody involved would come out ahead. Well, that was the plan anyway.
The venue was…a casino parking lot. This meant the track was flat, featureless, and fairly boring. However, it was a challenging track for the drivers and many succumbed to exhaustion during and after the race. Few spectators showed up and the casinos didn’t make a fortune on the event. So after two races (1981 and 1982), Formula One left Las Vegas. Aiden Millward goes over the history of this event in one of his videos, which is well worth watching.
Fast forward four decades and F1 is back. Only this time it will be different…
Visitors will flock to the event, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy. The famous Las Vegas Strip with it’s glitzy casinos and dazzling frontages will be the backdrop to a massive spectacle. TV broadcasts, streaming, social media influencers, celebrities, business titans, and others will ensure that the event is a success. That is the plan.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
However, the sport (FOM) and city are taking a huge gamble on this event. Many locals are angry with all the construction related to the event and all the interruptions that entails. Also, more than a few fans were angered by the confiscatory prices for tickets, hotels, and transportation related to the event. Now that the organizer (FOM itself) is reducing ticket prices and hotels have cut rates by up to 70%; a lot of people are getting downright furious.
Now as Matt and Tommy say in their recent video, all this chaos and uncertainty could lead to an amazing event. It could also be a complete fiasco and leave everybody dissatisfied. So the stakes are high, the players are all-in, and the event beckons. If nothing else, the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be memorable.
Shirley Bassey sums it up well.
You’re welcome!
