According to the “economic development” mantra of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), last November should have been a banner month for revenue on the Strip with Formula One and a highly anticipated NFL game taking place the same weekend. 

Instead, it marked the Strip’s fifth straight monthly decrease in revenue as reported by the Gaming Control Board. 

After the first year of F1 in Las Vegas, record hotel revenue at MGM Resorts International and the Strip’s near-record monthly revenue total of $821 million, helped analysts justify the headache of turning the resort corridor into a private raceway. It was loudly proclaimed by event cheerleaders that such massive windfalls were the direct result of the communal sacrifice locals were forced to make at the altar of motorsports. 

We were told that such profit — even concentrated in the hands of a few key industry players — meant all that diverted foot traffic, all those blocked roadways and all the upended local commutes were going to be well worth the bonanza F1 would bring to the region in the years to come. 

However, given the financial damage experienced by local business owners, alternative venues and ordinary workers, the idea of using MGM’s balance sheet as a benchmark for broader “economic development” should have always been suspect. After all, massive revenue for a few major resorts isn’t the same thing as growth for an entire region. Plenty of business interests didn’t fare nearly as well in 2023 — which is why a handful have even taken legal action to address the financial burdens they were forced to endure. 

As difficult as it was to convince locals the F1 fiasco was worth it in the first year, however, last year’s race is going to be even harder given 2024’s comparatively lackluster revenue reports. 

To be sure, most experts and property owners had dialed down their expectations ahead of last November’s big race weekend — with most revenue projections looking far more “lukewarm” than the much anticipated opening weekend the year before. 

As it turns out, those “disappointing” expectations were well warranted.  

According to LVCVA, the average daily hotel room rates were down more than 21 percent from the prior year — a “softness” in demand that doesn’t bode well for an event that was largely marketed as an annual extravaganza designed to bring cash-flush European tourists rushing to our city year after year. 

Despite better attendance at the race than in the previous year, overall visitation to our little corner of the Mojave only increased by less than 1 percent — an increase that, as The Nevada Independent points out, is due largely to having an extra weekend in the month of November this time around. 

The disappointing numbers are made all the more disappointing by the fact that, according to the sort of “economic development” models LVCVA and event coordinators depend on, race weekend should have resulted in a tsunami of tourist cash descending upon the Strip. 

In addition to the main event of Max Verstappen flying down Las Vegas Boulevard at more than 200 miles per hour, Adele was also closing her highly acclaimed residency at Caesars Palace and the Las Vegas Raiders were hosting the Denver Broncos in a highly anticipated Sunday afternoon showdown. With such a plethora of travel-worthy events adorning our city, impressive revenue numbers should have been a foregone conclusion, according to the logic of those who sold the community on the idea of an annual Las Vegas Grand Prix in the first place. 

Instead, the economic impact of race weekend’s event-studded chaos was underwhelming. 

That’s hardly a rousing success story for an event that threatens to bankrupt small businesses, disrupt local commutes and even left the county with a hefty price tag after its inaugural race the year before. At least the first year of F1 left us with the opportunity to grasp at some cartoonish understanding of “trickle down” economics to justify upending commercial activity for the sake of a car race.

This time around, we don’t even have that. 

Of course, none of this is bound to deter those who subscribe to LVCVA’s narrow approach to economic development. There are undoubtedly countless industry experts and economic analysts ready to explain away last year’s lack of growth and promise never-ending good times if we merely commit ourselves to continue hosting a motorsport that has long struggled to gain any lasting foothold in America. 

For the rest of us, however, it is becoming apparent that the economic models used to justify the chaos of an annual Las Vegas F1 event suffered from an unforgivable flaw: They simply didn’t account for the unseen opportunity costs associated with turning an otherwise vibrant tourist destination into a private club for a niche fanbase of racing enthusiasts.  

Indeed, even by the perverse standard that economic development can be measured almost exclusively by the success of the Strip’s largest resorts, F1 increasingly looks like it could end up being more pain than profit in the long run.

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist, and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.