16/01/2024
NEWS STORY
While F1 and the FIA have given the green light to November's Las Vegas Grand Prix, following complaints from local businesses the Clark County Commission has yet to give November's race the green light.
Other than the fact that the opening two races of the forthcoming season take place on Saturdays, another anomaly of the 2024 race schedule, as released by F1 and the FIA on 15 December, was, for the first time in living memory, the absence of the asterisks that mark an event as being subject to approval, in other words yet to be officially confirmed.
However, whilst F1 and FIA might be happy, one group is not, and as a result there is a threat to what Liberty Media is hoping will become the jewel in the sport's crown.
Traders in Las Vegas are up in arms not only at the disruption caused by last November's race but the negative impact it had on their businesses, and as a result a complaint has been lodged with the Clark County Government.
They complain that organisers never hinted at the disruption the event would cause, and for how long, with local roads closed meaning a serious reduction in footfall. Indeed, they claim that organisers hoodwinked them and broke promises made in the run-up to the event.
"We don't need the F1. The F1 needs us," Jay's Market owner Wade Bohn, tells LVSportsBiz.com. "We want to be compensated for the losses that occurred due to everything F1, the county, and the LVCVA (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority) did.
"We believe the county is responsible," he added. "They're using taxpayer dollars to bring F1 into town.
"When F1 went before the county, they promised they would not be a hindrance, that they would be a part of the community. What they did was they came in, tore everything up, ran the race, and got the hell out of Dodge... If this happens again next year I will be out of business... 100 percent."
And happen again it no doubt will as public roads will need to be repurposed and grandstands and barriers erected then dismantled every year.
"We as a community got bamboozled, we got fooled," added Randy Markin, owner of Battista's restaurant and general manager of Stage Door Casino. "This has not ever happened before. It just steamrolled out of control."
Appearing before the Clark County Commission, a representative of the business owners was adamant that they want compensation to make up for their losses over the race weekend and the upheaval due to road closures and the erection and subsequent removal of the various grandstands and temporary venues. He stressed that the businesses have no interest in a class-action lawsuit.
"None of us want to destroy Las Vegas," insisted Markin. "We don't want a lawsuit. We want to turn a negative into a positive. It's much better if the county commission, LVCVA, and F1 get together and be proactive about this problem."
"For sure, we will be looking at this in the future," said Tick Segerblom, chairman of the Clark County Commission. "Before we approve F1 (for 2024), we will address the businesses that have been impacted in the past and are likely to be impacted in the future."
Of course, other than the threat from local businesses there also remains the little matter of the class action lawsuit brought by those fans ejected from the circuit just moments before the delayed second practice session got underway.
This, and the fact that the local businesses will be aware that they face the same disruption in November then again in 2025, 2026 and so on, not to mention that they effectively have F1 over a barrel, will send out a negative message to any other American city in which the sport is hoping to hold an event.
The negative publicity about the disruption will put off any other location in the US from holding a street race, and Liberty can effectively kiss goodbye to any hopes of a street race in New York.
F1 had already had to back down in Miami, where the event was forced out of the intended downtown location to the Dolphins stadium due to complaints from locals. The backlash against the race in Vegas will cripple the chances of any other street race taking place in the US for years to come.