Clark County officials and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) have agreed to an extension of F1’s controversial Las Vegas Grand Prix through 2037.
The extension of F1’s annual race in Las Vegas through 2037 is being sold as a triumph. It’s not. It’s a betrayal. The decision ignores overwhelming negative public sentiment toward the race to appease a handful of casinos. The good of the many is being sacrificed for the good of the few.
Las Vegas will continue to be subject to months of disruption to accommodate a three-day race, and taxpayer money to the tune of at least $10 million a year will help subsidize it. It’s a shitshow locals and tourists will have to deal with for a decade. It’s not a milestone; it’s an embarrassment.
The 10-year extension of F1’s race in Vegas is a reminder Las Vegas exists to serve casinos. (Not all, mind you, because in this case, many more are hurt by the Las Vegas Grand Prix than helped because many visitors avoid Las Vegas in the weeks leading up to the race.) We’re basically talking about Caesars Palace, Aria, Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo, as F1 appeals to more affluent visitors.
We are subject to the will of casinos, and F1 is just an example of that dynamic.
Nevada doesn’t have a lottery because of casinos. Red Rock Resorts and Boyd Gaming have prevented the lottery, despite widespread support for it being made available here, because someone might spend a few dollars on lottery tickets rather than slot machines.
Another example: Smoking is still allowed in casinos. It’s pure insanity. In virtually any other workplace, forcing employees to breathe secondhand smoke would be considered unacceptable. Fewer than 10% of American adults smoke, but Las Vegas casinos refuse to change their policies, endangering employees and guests while giving lip service to those same people being of utmost importance to them. It would be funny if it weren’t so hypocritical and infuriating.
“BuT tHE EcONoMiC ImPAct!” F1 supporters shout, trying to drown out the tsunami of ire this event evokes.
The F1 Web site proclaims: “Since debuting on the Formula 1 calendar in 2023, the Las Vegas Grand Prix has delivered $3.2 billion in cumulative economic impact for Southern Nevada, with all three races from 2023 through 2025 selling out and helping position Las Vegas among the sport’s marquee destinations worldwide.”
These claims are simply, to use the technical term, horseshit.
F1’s supposed “economic impact” numbers are extracted wholesale from asses. None of the reports about F1’s financial impact have included calculations of the losses. No balance sheet can exist (or be taken seriously) when only “assets” (inflated estimates at that) are listed, but no “liabilities” are. This isn’t transparency or accountability, it’s propaganda.
The Titanic was the largest passenger ship in the world. It was innovative. It was luxurious. It generated about $2.4 million in ticket sales (today’s dollars), and had untold economic impact on shipbuilders, engineers, suppliers, ports, sailors, laborers and even the owners of the White Star Line. The problem is that’s only part of the story.
F1 is a lot like the sinking of the Titanic, but the Titanic only went down once. We get this disaster every year for 15 years.
The claims of the races being sold out omit any mention of attendance falling after the inaugural race, ticket prices being lowered or ticket giveaways. Oopsie, doesn’t fit the narrative, nothing to see here!
“Helping position Las Vegas among the sport’s marquee destinations worldwide”? Oy. “ExPOsuRE!” is the way cheap bastards (and organizations) get away with not paying people for their work. Just ask any photographer, graphic designer, actor, musician, writer, model or Web designer. The list goes on and on. “Paying in exposure” is a magical currency accepted nowhere.
One of the problems with all the breathless cheerleading around F1 is the fact Las Vegas doesn’t have much journalism. The entities generating the whimsical financial claims and spinning the attendance numbers are the same people with a vested interest in the success of F1. There’s nobody to question the claims or push back against the flood of B.S. Local news outlets rely heavily on access and ad dollars. If you poke the bear, you run the risk of being blacklisted, or worse, being excluded from VIP perks and parties. So, they parrot and amplify what they’re told, like the obedient little de facto P.R. departments they are.
Why do county commissioners rubber-stamp anything F1 and the LVCVA put before them? They’ve been heavily schmoozed, and it has been supremely effective, even to the detriment of those our elected officials are supposed to be protecting.
Yes, we’ve been schmoozed by F1, too. We aren’t really schmoozable, though. We don’t need anything. Getting free tickets to an F1 race isn’t a perk, it’s a punishment. You can enjoy Grand Prix Plaza (which we did), but still loathe the impact of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Bigger picture, F1 isn’t an isolated case, or even the best example of casinos running every aspect of life in Las Vegas.
For example, casinos get a free ride on taxes. Nevada’s casino tax rate is a paltry 6.75%. The national effective rate is roughly 22% to 23%, with some states charging 50%-plus. Pretty much everything they want, casinos get.
Las Vegas isn’t like other cities. Casinos call the shots and the rest of us just have to bend to their will.
We love casinos, but there’s a price to pay for the gaming industry being the only game in town.
The priority isn’t public welfare, it isn’t small businesses (many of which take big financial hits during F1, some sued, but F1 paid them off to STFU) or schools or hospitals (Nevada has among the worst educational and medical care systems in the country) or culture (we’re getting our first real art museum in 2028 or 2029 thanks to Elaine Wynn) or quality of life.
Once you see the degree of influence and corruption, you can’t unsee it.
The fact is F1 holds Las Vegas hostage for a quarter of the year. It causes gridlock on and around The Strip, and blocks iconic photo ops like the Bellagio fountains.
It’s worth noting the Bellagio grandstands aren’t an F1 thing, they’re an MGM Resorts thing. That doesn’t make it any easier for the millions of tourists whose once-in-a-lifetime photos are ruined.
Las Vegas sold its soul, and the decision wasn’t even made by the people who make this town the incredible place it is. There was no vote. No consensus. Just a rubber stamp that means we all have to endure this mess for a decade or more.
Or more.
And it’s F1. It’s not even on the list of most popular sports globally: 1) Soccer, 2) Cricket, 3) Basketball, 4) Tennis, 5) Volleyball, 6) Table tennis, 7) Field hockey, 8) Baseball, 9) Rugby, 10) Golf. (Don’t get us started about the disproportionate amount of attention given to ice hockey. Our Vegas Golden Knights get a pass because they kick ass.)
With F1, Las Vegas has been relegated to being the background for a car race when it should be the main character.
So many resources are poured into this three-day race, so much accommodation is given.
Try getting that level of coordination for education. (The last thing casinos want is an educated population, they might actually understand how FUBAR things are and do something about it. Injustice thrives on people who are easily bamboozled and distracted.)
Try getting that level of urgency for health care, mental health support or housing for the homeless.
Try getting that level of attention for public transit that makes sense, rather than being an elaborate P.R. stunt dressed up like serious transportation.
Try getting that level of political support for smoke-free indoor air.
The people who are supposed to look out for our best interests are compromised. See also how quick they are to subsidize billionaires with hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars for sports venues which historically have never given back the economic benefits they promise.
And we haven’t even touched upon how incestuous it all is. The same names, same firms, same agencies, same insiders and same types of deals surface over and over again.
The LVCVA, resort executives, politically-connected vendors, consultants, campaign donors and public officials all exist in an impenetrable bubble where everyone seems to know everyone, or they’re literally related by blood or marriage, and somehow the conclusion is always that what benefits the resort industry benefits everyone.
The extension of F1 through 2037 should make Las Vegas residents and tourists alike furious.
Beyond the chaos the race creates, they should also be mad about what F1 represents. Their opinions simply don’t matter. We don’t count.
If people aren’t mad, it’s because they don’t understand what’s at stake. Which is just the way the powers that be like it.
