A number of disgruntled Las Vegas business owners are seeking compensation from Formula 1, citing profit losses caused across 2023 in the build-up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
F1 returned to the city of Las Vegas for the first time in four decades with November’s Las Vegas GP, with a circuit configuration that included racing down the iconic Strip.
The series itself acted in part as a race promoter and invested several hundred million dollars in preparing the city for the event.
This led to several road works and the development of infrastructure throughout 2023, with some local business owners claiming the disruption had more negative impact than positive.
“We don’t need the F1, the F1 needs us,” local business owner Wade Bohn told LVSportsBiz.com.
“We want to be compensated for the losses that occurred due to everything F1, the county, and the LVCVA did.”
Bohn claimed that his 2022 revenue of $8.5 million dropping to $4.2 – $4.3 million was a result of F1’s action in the area, with the disruption preventing his customers from accessing the business easily.
“We believe the county is responsible,” Bohn added.
“They’re using taxpayer dollars to bring F1 into town.
“When F1 went before the county, they promised they would not be a hindrance, that they would be a part of the community,” Bohn said.
“What they did was they came in, tore everything up, ran the race and got the hell out of dodge. . . If this (the business loss) happens again next year I will be out of business one hundred percent.”
Fellow business owner Randy Markin also stated “We as a community got bamboozled, we got fooled.
“This has not ever happened before. It just steamrolled out of control.”
According to LVSportsBiz.com, several businesses have jointly sought representation to seek compensation from F1, appearing in front of the Clark County Commission on Tuesday.
Negativity from the local community had been long gestating in the build-up to the Las Vegas GP in November due to the disruption caused by roadworks etc.
There was also heavy scepticism in the build-up to the event regarding the high-cost nature of the event, with reports showing that the large cost of entry was slashed dramatically in the days leading up to the event to improve attendance figures.
Compounding things further, were the issues endured on the first day of practice – as a loose drain cover brought an early end to FP1, with fans escorted out of the circuit prior to a late running FP2 session.
Some, including World Champion Max Verstappen, believed the compensation offered to the fans affected during opening practice wasn’t good enough, but as the race weekend went on the narrative turned positive.
The Grand Prix itself was an entertaining affair and some fans on the ground did have some encouraging thoughts regarding the event as a whole.
F1 itself believes the event to have generated an economic benefit of US$1.2 billion to the state of Nevada (via Blackbook Motorsport).
The sport intends to stick around Las Vegas long term but will need to ensure the positives of its presence in Sin City outweigh the negatives, to avoid further resentment amongst the local community.
