The Las Vegas Grand Prix promoters are offering a new “general admission” ticket for this year’s race, priced at over £1,000.
But the three-day ‘Heineken GA+’ ticket will only allow spectators to access a single vantage point at one of the Formula 1 circuit’s 17 corners.Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm said the GA+ offer “is a completely new ticket type for 2024 that offers a premium general admission experience in the heat of the action at a price point which is much more affordable than last year’s product offering for the same circuit location.”
The new $1,350 (£1,064) GA+ ticket for the Las Vegas Grand Prix will only allow fans to access the South Koval Zone. This area will include “unassigned bleacher-style seating” which fans can access “on a first-come, first-served basis.”
General admission tickets typically permit fans to access many viewing opportunities around a track. The £348 ‘Premier Walkabout’ general admission ticket for the Singapore Grand Prix allows fans to see almost all of the 19-turn city course, without seating.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix website says buyers of the GA+ ticket will be able to “watch as drivers battle for position through turn four and head down the Koval Straightaway.”
The promoter said the ticket offers “incredible views as drivers speed up for the overtake on the action-packed Koval Straightaway.”
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The South Koval Zone will feature “DJs, live entertainment, fun photo opportunities, interactive fan activations and more,” it added. “Ticket holders will also enjoy complimentary pub fare, soft drinks, and water.”
“I hope that Formula 1 is working around that because for sure there’s been many events now that are just incredibly expensive,” said Charles Leclerc. “Real fans that really love the sport cannot even afford to get to the races and actually watch the races,” he added. “So this is definitely an issue that has to be tackled.”
The new GA+ ticket will go on sale next Monday. Compared to last year’s race, around 7,000 more ‘GA’ tickets have been made available, at lower prices than the new ‘GA+’ offer.
A group of fans brought a lawsuit against F1 after last year race over the closure of spectating areas during the first day of practice. The first session was stopped after eight minutes due to damage caused by a loose water valve cover and the second was postponed by two-and-a-half hours. The viewing areas were closed prior to the latter due to the lack of available staff.
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SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
17th June 2024, 16:39
I mean, anyone willing to pay these kind of prices for this is not going to listen to any criticism anyways. I honestly don’t know why you would want to pay this much to see an F1 race in Vegas, when you could literally just fly somewhere (including the relatively close-by races in Canada, Texas, and Mexico) and spend less (including lodging and food/drinks for the duration of the trip) than you would in Las Vegas.
To each their own, and I hope Liberty’s pleased with the results and ticket sales, but I doubt there’s that much longevity here for this model of outrageous pricing for a race here. Maybe they can come down in price a bit once that pit building area is finally paid off.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th June 2024, 17:05
So much for a single corner, not that LV GP (or Miami GP, for that matter) is in my plans for any future GP visit.
If I had to choose, I’d rather attend the Italian, Hungarian, or Abu Dhabi GP again than the former two for the first time, while among the far away-from-Europe flyaways, the Japanese & Canadian GPs are on the top of my preference list in this order, with the Austrian GP within Europe, followed by Azerbaijan & Bahrain GPs as relatively near flyaway events.
Mexico City & Sao Paulo GPs, on the other hand, I never intend to attend as a mere GP tourist due to the respective cities’ obvious safety issues, especially the latter.
Simon
17th June 2024, 19:57
The article is about Las Vegas. Nowhere else. Las Vegas only…
Jere (@jerejj)
17th June 2024, 20:54
Still relevant for comparison’s sake.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2024, 0:00
I’m guessing you missed Sjaakfoo’s comment, because he also mentioned other races for comparison purposes, or wait, you didn’t miss it, you turned a blind eye.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
18th June 2024, 0:01
The article I’m reading does indeed mention somewhere else for comparison.
Pete
17th June 2024, 17:11
If people are willing to pay it, it’s not a ridiculous price. I wouldn’t pay even half of that but I’m not their target market as I’d rather go to pretty much any other GP on the calendar rather than having to go to Las Vegas.
Phoebe Cambell
17th June 2024, 20:29
I’m not sure that it means it’s not a ridiculous price, somuch as they’re being sold to ridiculous people. Money doesn’t justify a complete lack of perspective.
Pete
17th June 2024, 23:07
Perspective is the key word – it’s a ridiculous price to us but then I’d say spending £200k+ on a car is completely ridiculous. That doesn’t stop people buying Ferraris.
SteveR (@stever)
17th June 2024, 23:24
People who can afford a $200k car will not be buying standing room general admission tickets with no view of the track.
Pete
18th June 2024, 11:37
Not suggesting they would – they’d probably spend over double that amount to get a better view. The point is that what some people call ridiculous, others will say is acceptable. If they’ve got enough people who are happy to pay then despite what we think, it’s hard to argue that they got their pricing wrong. If they’re flogging these tickets a week before the GP for £500 then they clearly did.
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
17th June 2024, 21:56
That is fundamentally the point. The price is ultimately set by the market over time. I wouldn’t pay those prices for those seats either but if other people do then that is on them.
If popularity of the sport climbs, unless ticket availability climbs to match, the scarcity factor increases with the inevitable knock-on effects.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
17th June 2024, 17:28
This bit made me smile …
In the present day world of F1 where “no skill required” DRS overtakes are the norm, then a corner where the drivers actually “battle for position” would cost a lot more than a grand.
Is it for the entire race weekend or just the race?
Either way you would have to be a special kind of sucker to go for this.
cameron coulson
17th June 2024, 17:34
Pathetic!
Anthony H. Tellier
17th June 2024, 20:20
AND a “DJ”!
Dex
17th June 2024, 20:55
Well, I feel the same about this whole city and its kind of tourism, so it’s easy to dislike the GP and how they treat the fans (yes, yes, the price, but what about being kicked out despite having this expensive ticket?). Liberty, Vegas, extremely overpriced tickets… what’s to like here?
Most of tourists going there need help in dealing with gambling and/or drinking issues in any case. I doubt anybody goes to see the “Eiffel tower”, a small, pathetic replica of the real thing, when they can simply go and see the real one. Likewise you could go and watch a real GP, while there still are some.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
17th June 2024, 18:34
The Las Vegas GP again demonstrating that it is the best F1 event to attend for spectators who don’t like F1.
Radoye
17th June 2024, 18:56
The most expensive tickets for the Toronto IndyCar race – 3 day Gold grandstand + paddock pass will set you back $230 CAD. $200 more if you want pit access too. And for this you’ll get access to officials, teams, cars and drivers past and present. You can take selfies and hunt for autographs, chat with mechanics which will be happy to answer all your stupid questions as long as you don’t get too much in their way. They’ll let small kids sit in the cockpit, give away any discarded pieces of equipment as souvenirs…
You’ll get your money’s worth and then some more, even without “DJs, live entertainment, fun photo opportunities, interactive fan activations and more”.
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
17th June 2024, 20:38
So everyone attending the Las Vegas GP will be one of three categories:
1. Extremely wealthy
2. Extremely stupid
3. Works for a company that bought seats
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
17th June 2024, 21:28
I guess this is the down side to the sport getting so popular. A mere 14 years ago I paid $275AUD for a 4 day grandstand ticket at the Australian Grand Prix. It was incredible value given the access to the circuit and the view from the stand. The cheapest grandstand ticket I could find for this year was $750. As much as I love F1, it’s simply too expensive to justify. I ended up finding a Friday only general admission ticket which cost as much as a 4 day general admission ticket cost about 10 years ago. Not sure I’ll bother at all for next year. It’s quite sad being priced out of the one sport I love. I’m clearly not the target audience for Las Vegas.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2024, 0:06
Wow, that’s crazy, more than 4x more expensive than back then and dare I say f1 didn’t necessarily improve the show since then.
MichaelN
17th June 2024, 21:34
Makes sense. F1 very much wants to make this ‘special’, and it’s an old trick to turn something rather mundane into something very expensive and then pretend it’s special. Plenty of people believe it, so it works. And why not! If someone gets a kick out of seeing the F1 race and ‘showing off’ their expensive ticket, more power to ’em. To each their own. There are multiple other races in North America to visit for people who care more for the racing as such.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
17th June 2024, 22:14
I paid 195€ for a grandstand seat near the Dunlop bridge for last weekend’s Le Mans which was also a general admision ticket for the whole WEEK plus the June 9th test.
You could pay 5 tickets for a whole week at one of motorsport jewels against watching a single corner at the corniest place on earth.
Biggsy
17th June 2024, 22:52
– Is DJ a part of F1 race?
– No.
– Is “live entertainment” part of F1 race?
– No.
– Are “fun photo opportunities” part of F1 race?
– No.
– Are “interactive fan activations” part of F1 race?
– No.
I don’t care to know about this, as if it is something which should bring value to my grossly overpriced ticket.
When I’m purchasing anything, from cable plans, to live event tickets, I always want an option of add-ons, instead of mandatory bundles, 99% made up of stuff I neither need nor care for.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2024, 0:09
Yes, these bundles are unfortunately a successful business strategy: they give you something you “can’t live without” but only if you also buy a couple more useless extras you don’t care about, and in my experience too many people feel compelled to go for it anyway.
pastaman
18th June 2024, 1:43
How much to attend Monaco to see zero overtaking?
Jay
18th June 2024, 5:34
There was an article in the roundup a week or so ago about a woman and husband going to Monaco for $20,000. Claimed she could see 2/3rds of the track and had access to one of the yachts. Not exactly apples to apples but Las Vegas seems cheap, in comparison.
If Las Vegas has a sellout crowd, they priced the tickets too low. I wouldn’t pay to go to either of them personally.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
18th June 2024, 12:18
“ more affordable than last year’s product offering for the same circuit location.”
“… will feature “DJs, live entertainment, fun photo opportunities, interactive fan activations and more,”
Gross
Mayrton
18th June 2024, 12:24
Don
18th June 2024, 13:21
Complete stupidity