The businesses claim they lost millions due to a road closure.
You are going to hear and read a lot about the economic impact of having the Super Bowl in Las Vegas in the upcoming days. There is a number, seemingly pulled out of a hat, that a Super Bowl is worth $300 million or $400 million in economic impact to an area although no one has ever really done a detailed study of what a big sports event is worth to an area. Las Vegas officials were touting that last November’s Las Vegas Formula One event brought in a record amount of economic impact. Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix officials called the event “an unprecedented racing experience that created a new standard of entertainment and racing excellence.” Race officials reported a “capacity crowd” of 315,000 people showed up on the Las Vegas Strip and said the event brought “an estimated economic impact of $1.2 billion.” If it was so lucrative why are some Las Vegas businesses asking for money to cover their business losses during the race.
Local businesses that say they lost millions of dollars when Formula One road closures kept their customers away and they want to see some money from someone in Las Vegas who thought it was a grand notion having the Formula One race in town. The businesses have requested that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors remove a temporary bridge on Flamingo Road built for the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix. Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, president and CEO of Mayo and Associates, wants the authority to establish a small business recovery fund to reimburse businesses that lost an estimated $23 million during the Las Vegas Grand Prix race that took place between November 16th and 18th. Big events never bring the economic impact promised. But politicians fall for an event because it brings prestige to their town.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
