EXTRA SUPER! BIG® IMPACT STUDY
Formula 1 brings hundreds of thousands of people, huge spending, and global attention to Las Vegas. It also brings road closures, higher prices, traffic headaches, and very different results depending on where you do business. So, what does the Las Vegas Grand Prix actually do to the city? We went past the hype and looked at the numbers.
Editor's note: The 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix will take place Nov. 19-21, 2026. This is the pre-race edition of the 2026 ESB Impact Study. It combines confirmed results from the first three Las Vegas Grand Prix weekends with current 2026 tourism data, ticket pricing, and race preparation impacts. Final 2026 measurements will be added after race weekend.
The Short Answer: F1 Is Huge for Vegas, but the Impact Is Not Evenly Spread
There is no serious argument that Formula 1 brings major economic activity to Southern Nevada.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix generated nearly $1.5 billion in economic impact in its first year in 2023. The second race generated an estimated $934 million in 2024. Formula 1 and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority say the first three races from 2023 through 2025 produced a combined $3.2 billion in economic impact.
That is real money.
But that number does not mean $3.2 billion landed in local cash registers. Economic impact includes direct spending plus additional economic activity created when businesses buy from suppliers and workers spend their earnings.
And once you move away from the big regional number, the picture gets much more complicated.
Hotels can collect much higher room rates.
Race visitors have historically spent far more than the typical Las Vegas visitor.
State and local governments collect tens of millions of dollars in taxes.
Thousands of jobs are supported by race operations and visitor spending.
Some businesses near the circuit have reported major losses tied to access problems and construction.
Workers and locals can face longer trips, detours, and transportation problems.
The financial effect becomes harder to see as you move away from the Strip.
That last part is exactly where the 2026 Extra Super! BIG® study gets interesting.
Las Vegas Grand Prix Impact by the Numbers
Measure | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
Race-week attendance | More than 316,000 | 306,000 | More than 300,000 reported |
Unique visitors / out-of-town attendees | 145,000 unique visitors | Nearly 175,000 out-of-town attendees | Not publicly broken out in comparable official data |
Economic impact | Nearly $1.5 billion | $934 million | Not separately broken out in the latest official release |
State and local tax revenue | About $77 million | $45 million | $43 million |
Combined economic impact since launch | $3.2 billion through the end of 2025 |
The most important number in that table may be the $3.2 billion total. Las Vegas and Formula 1 have now committed to keeping the race here through 2037. This is no longer an experiment. F1 is becoming part of the permanent Las Vegas event calendar.
What $934 Million of F1 Economic Impact Actually Means
The 2024 race gives us the clearest detailed look at where the money goes.
Formula 1 commissioned Las Vegas research firm Applied Analysis to study the event. The researchers used more than 5,000 attendee surveys and an economic model that measured direct, indirect, and induced activity.
2024 Impact Category | Direct Activity | Additional Ripple Effect | Total Economic Output |
|---|---|---|---|
Visitor spending | $336 million | $220 million | $556 million |
Infrastructure and operations | $213 million | $165 million | $378 million |
Total | $549 million | $385 million | $934 million |
The same analysis estimated that the 2024 race supported $284 million in salaries and wages and 4,502 jobs when direct, supplier, and employee-spending effects were combined.
It also estimated $45 million in state and local taxes.
That is why calling the $934 million figure "revenue" can be misleading. It is better described as economic output. Some of it is direct spending. Some represents the additional activity created as that money moves through the Southern Nevada economy.
The F1 Visitor Is Worth a Lot to Las Vegas
This may be the strongest argument for the race.
In 2024, nearly 175,000 out-of-town attendees came to Las Vegas for the Grand Prix. According to the economic analysis, those visitors stayed an average of 3.7 nights and spent more than $2,400 per person on non-race expenses.
That spending included things like:
Hotel rooms
Restaurants and bars
Local transportation
Shopping
Gambling
Shows and entertainment
The $2,400 figure did not include the cost of the race ticket itself.
Applied Analysis said the average Grand Prix visitor spent nearly twice as much as the typical non-F1 Las Vegas visitor.
For a tourism city, that matters. Las Vegas does not simply need bodies walking around the Strip. It needs visitors who spend.
F1's Biggest Price Impact May Be the Hotel Room
The first Las Vegas Grand Prix showed just how much pricing power a major event can create.
CoStar reported that during the core 2023 race period, Las Vegas hotel average daily rates surged. Thursday through Saturday produced an average daily rate around $629, up dramatically from the comparable period one year earlier. Luxury hotels approached $1,000 per night on Friday and Saturday.
But something else happened.
Occupancy did not explode.
Race-weekend occupancy was about 89.4%, compared with 92.5% during the comparable period a year earlier. In other words, the city made much more money per occupied room without necessarily filling dramatically more rooms.
The broader November numbers tell the same story.
Las Vegas November Hotel and Visitor Data | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
Visitor volume | 3,292,800 | 3,313,700 | 3,141,600 |
Hotel occupancy | 81.9% | 81.4% | 79.4% |
Average daily room rate | $249.31 | About $199 | $193.04 |
Revenue per available room | $204.18 | About $162 | $153.27 |
The 2023 monthly hotel rate was a record at the time and was up 33.7% from November 2022.
By 2024, the market had adjusted. November's average daily room rate fell about 20% from the first F1 year, although it remained the second-highest November rate on record at the time.
Then came another important clue in 2025. Las Vegas hosted a sold-out Grand Prix, but overall November visitation still fell 5.2% from the previous year.
That tells us something important: F1's value cannot be measured by total city visitor count alone.
A smaller pool of high-spending visitors can still create a major economic event.
It is also important not to give F1 credit for every November number. SEMA and other conventions, concerts, Raiders games and normal tourism are happening at the same time. Monthly Las Vegas data shows the environment around the race. It does not isolate the race by itself.
2026 Tickets Show F1 Is Trying to Widen the Audience
One of the biggest complaints around the first Las Vegas Grand Prix was price.
That has changed.
For 2026, Formula 1 initially offered Flamingo Zone general admission tickets starting at just $50 for Thursday practice and $492 for all three days, including taxes and fees. Those Flamingo tickets later sold out.
As of September 2026, the official Las Vegas Grand Prix site lists these starting prices:
2026 Ticket Type | Current Advertised Starting Price |
|---|---|
Single-day general admission | $81 |
Single-day grandstand | About $100 |
Single-day hospitality | About $400 and up |
T-Mobile three-day general admission | $809 |
Those prices can change as inventory sells.
But the trend is obvious. Formula 1 has created lower entry points than the original Las Vegas event offered.
So, what does an F1 trip really cost?
We cannot honestly publish a final 2026 F1 Weekend Cost Index yet because hotel rates, airfare, rideshare pricing, parking, and other costs are still changing.
But the historical benchmark is already useful.
A typical out-of-town F1 attendee in 2024 spent more than $2,400 in Las Vegas before the race ticket was counted.
Add an $809 three-day general admission ticket at the current 2026 T-Mobile starting price, and the combined amount is already above $3,200.
That is not a prediction of what the average 2026 visitor will spend. It is a simple illustration using a confirmed historical spending figure and a real 2026 ticket price.
The actual 2026 ESB F1 Weekend Cost Index will need to track the same basket of expenses repeatedly:
Airfare
Hotel room
Resort fees and taxes
Race ticket
Meals
Drinks
Rideshare or rental transportation
Parking
Entertainment
Other common visitor expenses
The Part of the F1 Story the Billion-Dollar Number Can Miss
If you are looking at Southern Nevada as one giant economy, Formula 1 looks powerful.
If you own one business next to a road closure, the experience can look completely different.
Businesses around Flamingo Road and Koval Lane publicly reported severe revenue losses following construction for the first race.
Jay's Market owner Wade Bohn told the Las Vegas Sun that his December sales fell from about $543,000 in 2022 to $380,000 in 2023. He also reported that customer traffic fell from about 30,000 people to 18,000 during the same comparison.
Owners of Battista's Hole in the Wall, Stage Door and other nearby businesses also publicly alleged millions of dollars in losses tied to construction, lane restrictions and customer access problems.
Some businesses later took legal action. Formula 1 said in 2025 that it had resolved differences with Battista's and Stage Door.
These business-owner figures are claims from the individual businesses. They should not be treated as audited citywide losses.
But they expose the problem with judging the Grand Prix using only one giant economic number.
A city can win while one block loses.
Formula 1 Has Reduced the Construction Pain, but It Has Not Eliminated It
The first race required months of major road work, including track paving. That was never going to be repeated every year.
For the 2024 race, organizers said circuit preparation was reduced by about 65% compared with the inaugural build. Much of the work moved to overnight hours.
The process was shortened again in 2025.
But the fourth Las Vegas Grand Prix is still a street race. That means building a racetrack on roads people use every day.
And the 2026 disruption has already started.
What Is Happening Right Now for the 2026 Race
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada reported Formula 1-related road and transit impacts in September 2026, weeks before the cars arrive.
Current and scheduled work has included:
Overnight restrictions on Koval Lane.
Overnight closures and construction activity on Sands Avenue.
Lane reductions around Harmon Avenue.
Temporary impacts to RTC bus stops and routes.
Two southbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard affected near Bellagio during construction.
Pedestrian access changes around parts of the Strip circuit.
The official Formula 1 transportation site is publishing weekly build and dismantle updates.
This matters because the economic impact of Formula 1 does not start when the lights go out on Saturday night.
It begins during construction.
And it continues during teardown.
The Commute Cost Is Real, but Vegas Still Does Not Have a Good Number for It
This is one of the biggest holes in the public F1 data.
We know roads close. We know buses detour. We know workers and residents report longer trips.
What we do not have is a clean, standardized answer to a simple question:
How many extra minutes does Formula 1 add to a normal Las Vegas commute?
That is why the ESB Grand Prix Commute Penalty will use fixed routes at fixed hours and repeat them before, during, and after race week.
The goal is not to ask whether traffic feels worse.
The goal is to measure it.
The Same Problem Exists With Rideshare and Parking
There are plenty of stories about surge pricing and expensive parking during huge Las Vegas events.
There is much less standardized data.
A useful F1 rideshare study cannot compare a random Uber trip on Tuesday with a different route on Saturday night. It needs identical routes, identical request times, and repeated observations.
The same goes for parking.
The 2026 ESB study will separate:
Normal-week parking prices
Pre-race prices
Race-week prices
Race-night prices
Properties near the circuit
Properties farther from the circuit
Only then can we calculate a real F1 premium.
Does Formula 1 Actually Help Las Vegas Small Businesses?
Right now, the most defensible answer is: some of them, absolutely. Others, apparently not.
The 2024 economic analysis found hundreds of millions of dollars in visitor spending moving through hotels, restaurants, transportation, shopping, gambling, and entertainment.
That money clearly reaches businesses.
What the regional data does not tell us is which kinds of locally owned businesses get it.
Does a restaurant in Chinatown get an F1 bump?
Does an Arts District bar?
Does a barbershop three miles from the circuit notice anything?
What about a restaurant directly inside a difficult traffic zone?
That is a very different question from asking how much economic output the entire Las Vegas metropolitan area generated.
The ESB Local Business 100
Extra Super! BIG® will attack that question directly by surveying locally owned businesses before, during, and after the race.
The important measurements include:
Customer count
Sales change
Average transaction size
Employee hours
Transportation problems
Delivery and vendor problems
Parking problems
Whether customers identified themselves as F1 visitors
Distance from the circuit
Whether the owner believes the race helped, hurt, or had no material effect
That last question will be useful.
The sales numbers will be better.
How Far Does F1 Money Actually Travel?
This may become one of the most important questions in the entire study.
A visitor who spends $1,000 at a Strip resort has clearly added money to the Las Vegas economy.
But did that visitor ever leave the resort corridor?
The ESB F1 Spillover Index will compare results by distance from the circuit.
Distance From Circuit | Question | 2026 Result |
|---|---|---|
Inside / immediately adjacent | How concentrated is F1 spending? | Pending |
1-3 miles | Does visitor spending spill into nearby districts? | Pending |
3-5 miles | Is there still a measurable F1 effect? | Pending |
5+ miles | Does the race matter to ordinary neighborhood businesses? | Pending |
The word "pending" matters.
We are not going to manufacture an answer because it would make a better headline.
Do Vegas Workers Actually Make More During F1?
The macroeconomic evidence says the race supports substantial wages.
The 2024 economic analysis estimated $284 million in salaries and wages connected to race operations and visitor-spending effects.
But that still does not tell us whether an individual bartender, server, housekeeper, valet, cook, or casino worker comes out ahead.
A worker might make more in tips and overtime while also spending more time commuting, paying more for transportation, or losing hours because customers cannot reach a business.
The ESB F1 Worker Index will therefore measure both sides of the equation:
Hours worked
Overtime
Tips
Total earnings
Commute time
Transportation cost
Parking cost
Schedule disruption
The question is not simply, "Did you make more?"
It is, "After everything F1 changed, did you actually come out ahead?"
Las Vegas Enters the 2026 Race From a Different Starting Point
That matters too.
Las Vegas went through a difficult tourism year in 2025. Total visitation fell to about 38.5 million, down 7.5% from 2024.
By mid-2026, the market was showing signs of stabilizing.
Las Vegas 2026 Baseline | Through July 2026 | Year-Over-Year Change |
|---|---|---|
Visitor volume | 22,754,200 | +0.5% |
Convention attendance | 3,909,300 | +11.2% |
Hotel occupancy | 81.3% | +0.2 percentage points |
Average daily room rate | $188.04 | +3.0% |
Clark County gaming revenue | $8.13 billion | +2.3% |
This gives us a much better baseline for judging what happens in November.
If hotels spike during F1, we need to know what they were charging before F1.
If restaurant reservations disappear, we need to know normal availability.
If traffic doubles on one route, we need the normal drive time.
If a local business says sales jumped 40%, we need a normal comparable sales period.
Without a baseline, an impact study is just a collection of interesting numbers.
The 2026 ESB Grand Prix Impact Study
Extra Super! BIG® is breaking the race into multiple measurements instead of trying to force everything into one giant economic-impact number.
ESB Study | What It Measures | Status |
|---|---|---|
ESB F1 Weekend Cost Index | Hotels, fees, tickets, meals, transportation, and common visitor costs | 2026 measurement pending |
ESB F1 Hotel Price Tracker | Repeated pricing at the same Las Vegas hotels | Tracking period |
ESB F1 Price Map | Food, drinks, parking and experiences before and during race week | Baseline / race-week comparison |
ESB Local Business 100 | Results from 100 locally owned businesses | Pre-race / race / post-race study |
ESB F1 Spillover Index | Business impact by distance from the circuit | Pending |
ESB F1 Foot-Traffic Study | Pedestrian counts at fixed locations and times | Pending |
ESB Grand Prix Commute Penalty | Real travel times along fixed Las Vegas routes | Pending |
ESB F1 Rideshare Index | Identical rideshare quotes at fixed routes and times | Pending |
ESB F1 Parking Index | Parking prices at predetermined locations | Pending |
ESB F1 Restaurant Squeeze Index | Dinner reservation availability across Las Vegas districts | Pending |
ESB F1 Worker Index | Hours, tips, earnings, commuting, and work-related costs | Pending |
ESB F1 Airfare Tracker | Identical flights from major feeder cities | Tracking period |
ESB F1 Local Sentiment Poll | Vegas resident opinion before and after the race | Pending |
ESB F1 Small Business Sales Index | Reported sales changes against comparable normal periods | Pending |
ESB F1 Redemption Study | What F1 visitors buy when ESB sends them to local businesses | Pending |
What We Can Say Before the 2026 Race
There is already enough confirmed evidence to reach several conclusions.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix is a major economic event. Three races generated a reported $3.2 billion in cumulative Southern Nevada economic impact.
F1 visitors are unusually valuable. The average 2024 out-of-town race visitor spent more than $2,400 outside the race itself.
Hotels can be one of the biggest beneficiaries. The first race produced extraordinary room-rate gains even without extraordinary occupancy gains.
The first-year price frenzy cooled. Hotel pricing moderated sharply after the inaugural race.
F1 does not automatically increase total Las Vegas visitation. November 2025 visitation fell even with a sold-out Grand Prix and several other major events.
The disruption is real. Road restrictions and transit changes are already underway for the 2026 event.
The impact is uneven. Regional economic gains can exist at the same time individual businesses report serious losses.
The biggest unanswered question is distribution. We know F1 creates money. We know much less about how far that money travels beyond the Strip and which locally owned businesses actually receive it.
The Real Question Is Not Whether F1 Makes Money
We already know it does.
The harder question is who gets the money, who pays the price, and how far the benefit travels.
That is the difference between saying Formula 1 generated hundreds of millions of dollars and understanding what Formula 1 actually does to Las Vegas.
Does the bartender make more?
Does the restaurant in Chinatown get busier?
Does the small business near Koval lose customers?
Does the rideshare driver make enough extra money to justify the traffic?
Does the tourist pay 20% more, 50% more, or twice as much for the same Vegas weekend?
Does F1 money make it five miles from the circuit?
And after the last car leaves, who actually comes out ahead?
Those are the numbers Extra Super! BIG® will be watching in 2026.
FAQ: Las Vegas Grand Prix Impact
When is the 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix?
The 2026 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend runs from Thursday, Nov. 19 through Saturday, Nov. 21. The Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. local time on Saturday.
How much money does the Las Vegas Grand Prix bring to Las Vegas?
Formula 1 and the LVCVA report that the first three Las Vegas races from 2023 through 2025 generated $3.2 billion in cumulative economic impact for Southern Nevada. The 2024 event alone generated an estimated $934 million in economic output.
How much did F1 visitors spend in Las Vegas?
Out-of-town attendees at the 2024 race spent more than $2,400 per person on average on non-race expenses, according to Applied Analysis. That figure did not include their race tickets.
How many people attend the Las Vegas Grand Prix?
The inaugural 2023 event recorded more than 316,000 in total attendance across race week. The 2024 event recorded 306,000. The 2025 race was sold out and drew more than 300,000 attendees across the weekend, according to published reports.
Does Formula 1 increase Las Vegas hotel prices?
It can. The inaugural 2023 race caused a major increase in hotel rates, particularly on the Strip. The pricing effect moderated in later years as hotels and customers adjusted to the event.
Does Formula 1 bring more visitors to Las Vegas?
Not necessarily on a citywide basis. November 2025 visitor volume fell 5.2% from November 2024 even though the Grand Prix sold out. F1's economic value appears to depend heavily on the amount race visitors spend, not simply the total number of people entering Las Vegas.
Does the Las Vegas Grand Prix help small businesses?
Some local businesses benefit from additional visitor spending, but the effect is not uniform. Businesses near construction and traffic restrictions have publicly reported losses, while tourism-oriented businesses can gain from higher visitor spending. The 2026 ESB study is designed to measure this difference directly.
How much are 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix tickets?
As of September 2026, official single-day general admission inventory starts around $81. Lower-priced Flamingo Zone tickets that originally started at $50 for Thursday practice sold out. Prices vary by day, zone, seating level, and availability.
Will there be road closures for the 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix?
Yes. Circuit preparation is already creating overnight road restrictions and transit changes around Koval Lane, Harmon Avenue, Sands Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. More extensive restrictions are expected as race week approaches.
How long will Formula 1 continue racing in Las Vegas?
Formula 1, Las Vegas Grand Prix Inc., Clark County, and the LVCVA announced a long-term extension in June 2026 that keeps the Las Vegas Grand Prix on the calendar through 2037.
Is the 2026 ESB Impact Study final?
No. The race has not happened yet. This edition establishes the confirmed historical record and the 2026 baseline. Final hotel, airfare, parking, rideshare, traffic, worker, resident, and small-business results can only be calculated after the relevant 2026 data has been collected.
What will make the ESB study different?
Instead of relying only on a single regional economic-impact number, Extra Super! BIG® is designed to measure what happens at street level. That means tracking the same hotels, routes, parking locations, rideshare trips, restaurants, businesses, and other measurements before, during, and after Grand Prix week.
Sources and Methodology
This analysis uses published data from Formula 1, Las Vegas Grand Prix Inc., the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Applied Analysis, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, CoStar hospitality research, Clark County information, and published Las Vegas business reporting. Business-loss figures attributed to individual owners are identified as owner-reported claims rather than independent audited results.
Economic impact figures should not be interpreted as profit, government revenue, or money received directly by small businesses. They measure broader economic output under the methodology used by the underlying economic-impact studies.
Extra Super! BIG® will update the 2026 Impact Study as new verified data becomes available before, during, and after the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
