Officials: Las Vegas Formula One race will draw 170,000 to city

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Sam Morris/LVCVA Archive

The marquees at Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood celebrate the announcement of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race for 2023 Wednesday, March 30, 2022.

Wed, Mar 30, 2022 (10:38 p.m.)

Las Vegas Grand Prix Announced for 2023

A track map for the Las Vegas Grand Prix F1 race to be held in November 2023. The track design is 3.8 miles long from start to finish with top speeds estimated to be over 212 mph. Launch slideshow »

Hosting events has been a winning formula for Las Vegas over the decades, but the city has never hosted anything like the pro motorsports race that will take place on the Strip next year.

Las Vegas, it was announced Wednesday, will be home to a Saturday night Formula One race in November 2023. It will be called the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Some details surrounding the event — including the date when it will occur — still need to be ironed out, but the days surrounding it are expected to draw close to 170,000 people to the city.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, along with a host of Las Vegas business leaders, including MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle and Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg took part in Wednesday night’s announcement at the Cosmopolitan’s outdoor Boulevard Pool deck.

Both companies, along with Wynn Resorts, are “founding” sponsors for the race, which will be the third Formula One event to take place in the United States. Other sponsors include Resorts World Las Vegas, the Venetian, and MSG Sphere.

“There’s nowhere better to be than here,” said Stefano Domenicali, president and CEO of the popular international race car circuit, with a backdrop of a bustling stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard behind him. “The best racing on the planet will be in Las Vegas under these lights. It will be amazing.”

Plans are for a 3.8-mile racetrack to be constructed along a stretch Las Vegas Boulevard and some adjacent streets. The track will start near Top Golf and MGM Grand  before heading north on Koval Lane. It’s planned for a 50-lap race.

It will then wind around the under-construction MSG Sphere facility before it connects with Sands Avenue and, eventually, Las Vegas Boulevard to go south until turning to the east on Harmon Avenue.

“It won’t be easy to turn the Strip into a circuit for a grand prix, but this is a community and a state that knows how to host unbelievable events,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The sport has gained popularity in the U.S. recently in part because of the popular Netflix show “Drive to Survive.” Adding another race in America is a way for the circuit to capitalize on that growing popularity, Formula One leaders said. The cars travels at speeds of more than 200 mph.

“Adding Formula One, a global sport, to Las Vegas underscores that this is the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” Sisolak said. “We’re looking down at one of the most famous streets in the world. I can’t wait to see this street with cars traveling 200 miles per hour.”

Sisolak said the race will have an “enormous” economic impact on the Southern Nevada region, possibly as much as $500 million when all is considered.

“Visitors will accommodate 400,000 hotel room nights, which is absolutely amazing,” Sisolak said. “The indirect impact will be over $1 billion. Nobody puts on a party like Las Vegas. I predict this will be the flagship race for F1 in a couple of years.”

The contract for the race is for three years, though Domenicali hinted that he hopes it’s eventually extended for much longer.

Hill said the LVCVA has agreed to pay more than $6 million per year for various costs associated with the event.

He said organizers have a specific Saturday date in mind for the race, but that additional details still need to be worked out before that’s announced publicly.

“We’ve been working hard at this (deal) for about seven months,” Hill said. “It’s been a lot of what we’ve been doing over that time.”

Miami is set to set to become the second U.S. city to host a Formula One race in October. Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) has stood alone as the only Formula One race in the U.S. for a decade.

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