At its recent meeting earlier this month, the board of directors from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors discussed the success of November’s inaugural Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, and also turned its attention to the city’s next blockbuster event, Super Bowl 58 in early February.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill told the board that the outcome of the race was “really remarkable,” adding that it “was the most difficult thing we’ve ever done but the event itself went exceptionally well.”
Chief Marketing Officer Kate Wik presented several statistics from the event—the live coverage reportedly produced more than 200 unique pieces of content that generated 59 million impressions across social media platforms.
Overall, the agency estimated that the event generated 600 million impressions online on the night of the race alone and 8 billion impressions over the course of the full week through a total of 40 contracted influencers.
Per the Review-Journal, Wik told the board that ESPN reported 1.3 million viewers for the event, and statistics from Sky Sports International and F1’s own channel were not yet available.
Hill applauded the fact that the race produced somewhere between $30 million and $55 million in live entertainment taxes—by comparison, the annual National Finals Rodeo typically collects no more than $2 million in such taxes per year. The totals for hotel room taxes and gaming taxes will be released at month’s end.
That said, some members also noted some of the downsides of the event, most notably the immense impact on local traffic and losses for businesses along the race path.
However, Hill responded by saying that the first year will be the most difficult.
“Year 1 of the race was the hardest because we had to spend more than 4½ months to pave the circuit,” he said, per the Review-Journal. “That’’ll last for a number of years and would have to be touched up along the way. It won’t be another 4½-month effort. That will eliminate quite a bit of congestion.”
Now that the race is finished, the focus has shifted to the upcoming Super Bowl 58, and officials from the game’s Host Committee also gave a presentation at the recent meeting.
The committee’s COO Bill McConnell and its Vice President of Events and Operations Jenny Bundschuh told the board that preparations are in full swing now that the game is less than two months away.
There are dozens of meetings planned in the coming weeks with first responders and other officials to ensure safety for the game, the pair said.
