F1’s Las Vegas GP Trumps Super Bowl 2024 With a Whopping $1.5 Billion Impact

In November 2022, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali laid the foundation for F1’s global conquering. “Everywhere we go, we want to create a Super Bowl.” This was the vision set for turning a niche sport into a cultural phenomenon that taps into the innermost human emotion. Just like the Super Bowl does for Americans and NFL fans worldwide. And then came the grand Las Vegas Grand Prix.

1 year after F1’s vision was set, the 2023 Las Vegas GP hit the mark for F1’s global expansion to follow. The race received its share of dislike from Vegas residents and workers because of the daily inconvenience caused by the new infrastructure. But eventually, it went down as a success for the sport, and the city. With this and the Super Bowl 2024, Vegas nudged itself ahead to be crowned the ‘Sports Capital of the World’. Thus began the comparisons.

In 4 months, both F1 (November 2023) and NFL (February 2024) made their Vegas debut. While the Super Bowl, with its 58-year history, boasted 123.4 million TV viewers in America, the Las Vegas GP managed only a meager 1.3 million (on ESPN). While Patrick Mahomes & Co. drew in the biggest list of Hollywood A-listers, Lewis Hamilton & Co. comparatively fell a tad short in celebrity presence.

But as David was to Goliath, the Las Vegas GP left the Super Bowl eating dust when it came to the big bucks. The F1 race weekend generated an economic impact of $1.5 Billion, with $884.5 Million spent by visitors. Contrastingly, Super Bowl LVIII generated an economic impact of $1 Billion, with $606.3 Million spent by visitors (as per Las Vegas Review Journal).

This highlights the strides that the pinnacle of motorsport has been taking to achieve global domination. With the foundation laid in Sin City, a vast land of opportunities awaits. And with that, so do the prices.

2023 Success pushes Las Vegas GP ticket prices up to nearly $40000

According to Jeremy Aguero from Vegas’ Applied Analysis, the average visitor during the Las Vegas GP spent $4100. That is over 3 times what an average visitor spends in 1 trip – $1200. The city witnessed such spending despite the hotel crisis nearly engulfing F1.

As a result, the 2024 Las Vegas GP prices have jacked up. The most expensive 3-day package – The Garage pass – is now costing around $37870 per ticket. For comparison, in 2023, a similar package cost $40000 but for a 5-day plan, with more benefits than the on-track action.

From the perspective of F1 drivers, teams, and fans, the numbers look good for the sport’s growth into more countries. Whether each race weekend creates a Super Bowl-like atmosphere remains to be seen.

Read More: Las Vegas GP’s $37,870 Ticket Price Has Bigger Value than Historic F1 Championship Trophy from 1964