F1 owner 'disappointed' with Las Vegas GP finances

Mar.6 (GMM) Formula 1 owner Liberty Media admits it is “disappointed” about the financial numbers coming out of its crown jewel event, the Las Vegas GP.

Overall, the sport’s popularity is surging, with Sky Deutschland boasting about soaring numbers in exciting new mainstream demographics.

“We have more than doubled the numbers in the target group of 14 to 29,” sports editor-in-chief Alexander Rosner told SID news agency. “And we now have three times as many female viewers.”

However, Liberty Media’s stock price actually fell by over 5 percent in the last period, which chief financial officer Brian Wendling attributes solely to the Las Vegas GP.

“We can’t comment on the specifics,” he said, “but the majority of the miss that you guys are calculating based on the team payment was Vegas-related.”

Liberty Media’s new CEO Derek Chang agrees.

“I think we all here were disappointed by some of the financial metrics in the early going here,” he said.

Las Vegas joined the F1 calendar in 2023, in a highly unique event for F1 as it is actually promoted by Liberty Media – with the paddock and pitlane sitting on land the sport’s commercial rights holder itself owns.

CEO Chang says the race has so far “missed internal expectations on revenue”, but explains that executives have already enacted “changes that will benefit 2025 and support a financially successful race for F1”.

“We now have two years of real data to understand what tickets and products sold well, the demographics of the fan base and the overall cost structure of the event,” he added.

“We have a clear handle on near-term priorities for Vegas to improve and we are confident in the value it provides.”

Wendling said the biggest problem for the event last year was slow ticket sales, after Liberty Media set prices at high levels never before seen in F1 history.

He also admitted there had been “softness” in “certain hospitality offerings”.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says the sport remains committed to its Vegas project.

“As have always said, this is an incredible grand prix on which we need to keep working and make sure that it will stay as we believe at the top of the range,” said the Italian.

“We need to make sure that we focus our attention on the cost structure of the situation that we have to manage in Vegas. We also need to have even a better local relationship because that’s the key of the success.”