Formula 1 owners Liberty Media expect the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix will reach $400 million in set up costs. After signing a contract for the destination US city to host a race for the next ten years, Liberty Media will be footing the bill for the promotion of the event for the first three years. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei admitted that the costs of setting up the infrastructure for the race weekend have increased beyond initial projections. "The Las Vegas team is pulling together an event of unprecedented complexity and scale, it will be the largest and our argument will be the most premium sporting event of 2023," he said on a recent investors call. "It's a view that's a testament to our Super Bowl aspirations for all our Grand Prix events. I am pleased to say preparations are running on schedule. And despite inflationary cost pressures, we expect no change in revenue and profitability assumptions that we laid out previously."
Las Vegas encountered logistical problems
Much of the groundwork for the race has been carried out over the last few months with the pit and paddock complex getting built, alongside numerous road works along the iconic Las Vegas strip and surrounding public roads that will be used for the track. Liberty Media Chief Financial Officer, Brian Wendling, said: "Our paddock building is now 85% complete, we expect capex related to the Vegas race including both the paddock building structure and track-related Capex to be close to 400 million, of which approximately 155 million was incurred in the first half of the year." There has been a few logistical challenges involved with preparing the infrastructure for the race. Las Vegas GP CEO, Renee Wilm, explained: "We've entered into a couple of challenges as we've uncovered asphalt cables under the ground that needed to be addressed. "There have been wires overhead that have needed to be moved. A lot of this was driven by the request and requirements of local stakeholders. "As we began this process of preparing the track for actual usage we've also encountered additional requests from the local stakeholders such as casino properties around enhanced security around opening/closing the track."
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