Maybe this inaugural Formula 1 race in Las Vegas isn’t going
to be the boon that people thought it was.
According to reports,
more than 10,000 tickets at their original price still remain unsold. The race weekend
runs between November 16-18, but some festivities around the city have already
begun.
Some people, including ticket brokers, are selling race
ducats for far less than face value.
Some reports say tickets have fallen between 35-50 percent
since they first went on sale last year. Tickets for the practice run, to get
used to the course, and for the qualifying races have fallen by as much as 60
percent.
Whether this is a so-called late-arriving crowd or if it
causes Las Vegas officials to rethink its strategy about luring tourism with
big-time sports – the city now has a National Football League franchise,
National Hockey League team, and is in the process of getting the Oakland
Athletics Major League Baseball team to relocate – remains to be seen.
Racing analyst Alex Gassman wrote that he found more than
10,000 unsold tickets in one grandstand area alone as of November 8.
“That’s a huge amount for an F1 event,” he wrote, adding
that he was unable to collect data for other grandstand areas, but did find a
three-day ticket for 45 percent less than the original price. He also wrote
that the initial ticket pricing was the highest in F1 history.
Ticket prices should continue to come down, he wrote. There
has also been a correlation to lodging prices. According to a survey by
casino.org, room rates for this week for some Las Vegas Strip hotels are down
as much as 58 percent as when they first began advertising last year.
Officials hoped the F1 race would begin a major
tourism increase, fueled by
top-notch sporting events.
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