The starting line may be at the corner of Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane, but when the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix begins there on November 18 at 10 p.m., Las Vegas and Clark County will have already reached the finish line of a different race.

“It is actually pretty remarkable what has been accomplished in a very short period of time,” Steve Hill, CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, tells the Weekly. “We just announced the race on March 30, 2022, so 18 months later, we’re going to have a race, and do it in the middle of one of the most iconic stretches of road in one of the most iconic cities.”

The fast-tracked construction surrounding the Las Vegas Strip to create the Pit Building and prepare the track was a major learning experience for all parties involved. Logistically, Hill says, nearly every aspect of this event is new not only to Las Vegas, but to F1, too. Liberty Media Corporation, owners of the racing circuit, partners with different promoters to put on races around the world. “This is the first race Liberty Media and F1 have done [themselves],” he says. “They are learning how to do it while we are learning how to do it.”

The learning curve has been more manageable thanks to a team effort between the county, LVCVA and the Strip’s resorts and incomparable hospitality infrastructure. And the titanic effort to get this point is expected to pay off in a big way—local firm Applied Analysis reports the estimated economic impact of the Las Vegas Grand Prix is nearly $1.3 billion, including an anticipated $966 million in visitor spending. The race is expected to employ more than 7,700 people with $361 million in salaries and wages tied to those jobs, including employment beyond the race itself for construction workers, partnering companies and more.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received from elected officials at the state and local levels and from our various community partners,” says Emily Prazer, chief commercial officer for the Grand Prix. “We’ve worked with our partners to positively impact our community through infrastructure-related improvements, job creation and sustainability initiatives. For example, the Las Vegas Grand Prix will generate an estimated $25 million that will be allocated to local K-12 schools. We have also partnered with the Southern Nevada Water Authority to implement water-saving technology that will help drive toward a net zero water ambition.”

Prazer notes that Applied Analysis also anticipates more than 140,000 people will visit for the race, plus an estimated 100 million viewers watching from around the world. There are few events of any kind that have the international following of F1; another is the Super Bowl, famously coming to town in February. Having the eyes of the world focused on Las Vegas this week, and in the last year’s leadup to the Grand Prix, is a marketing victory that “even with our budget, we could not afford to buy,” Hill says.

“Certainly Las Vegas has done big events, even if we have not had a place until Allegiant Stadium came long just three years ago to do indoor events with 65,000 people. It is somewhat new,” he continues. “But this is going to be the biggest event in the world in 2023. We’ve never taken on anything of this scale.”

This pre-Thanksgiving week in November is traditionally one of the slowest times for visitation; now, for the foreseeable future, it should be the best. “This will be the best weekend of the year,” Hill says. “It’s going from 51st to first, and by quite a bit, and we’re going to have a record November as a city because this race is here, and we might have a record quarter because this race is here. It has this big of an impact.”

And this is just the first of at least three years F1 will be racing around the Strip. A lot of the inconvenience caused by that hectic construction won’t be back in coming years, since the race infrastructure is in place. And conversations have already begun that could extend the race to a much longer term in Las Vegas.

“We look forward to taking learnings from year one and continuing to improve the event for year two and beyond to deliver the best possible experience,” Prazer says. “We look forward to furthering our positive impact on the community and ultimately establishing the Las Vegas Grand Prix as a major hub for Formula 1 in North America in years to come.”

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