This week’s F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is causing a significant commercial loss for more than just restaurants and casinos, yet they are the only ones who have sued so far. The operators of Las Vegas’ numerous production shows are experiencing a sting in their bank sheets for the second time.
The difficulty is that, unlike other major events that visit Las Vegas, such as the Super Bowl and the National Finals Rodeo, F1 commandeers the city’s main highway for its performance space. This significantly impedes tourists’ and even employees’ efforts to reach and enter any resort on the Strip in a timely manner.
Show tickets barely sold, resulting in massive operating losses, either because show-seeking tourists avoided Las Vegas during the inaugural F1 Grand Prix, were intimidated by maneuverability issues, or couldn’t physically get to one of the Strip’s Tix4Tonight kiosks to purchase discounted day-of tickets.
This year, several producers gave up and went dark. Shin Lim’s magic show at the Palazzo, “Awakening” at the Wynn, Carrot Top’s comedy act and “Fantasy” burlesque revue at the Luxor, and “Menopause The Musical” at Harrah’s have all been canceled until at least Sunday.
Cirque du Soleil exclusively performs “Mystere” at TI at 2 and 4:30 p.m., as well as “O” at the Bellagio at 2:30 and 5 p.m., on Fridays and Saturdays. “KA” at the MGM Grand is dark on Friday and only shows between 2:30 and 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
All shows at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops (“Zombie Burlesque,” “The Mentalist,” “V — The Ultimate Variety Show,” “Lioz — Master of Delusion,” “Big Black Comedy Show,” and “Purple Reign: The Prince Tribute Show”) were canceled.
Spiegelworld has canceled its “Atomic Saloon Show” at the Venetian and its new “DiscoShow” at the Linq for the full week, but its most popular offering, “Absinthe,” is still running at Caesars Palace, albeit earlier than normal.
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The only major attractions on a regular schedule this weekend will be Adele, who will complete her “Weekends With Adele” engagement on Saturday after 100 shows; David Copperfield on Friday and Saturday at the MGM Grand; and Cirque’s “MJ One” at Mandalay Bay and “Mad Apple” at New York-New York.
Race to the bottom
The producers of major performances generally split the costs and revenues with the resorts that host them. However, most Strip resorts will receive higher-than-normal room rental revenues from F1 for the week, offsetting their lower show profits.
The producers have had no such luck.
While no Las Vegas production like disclosing how much money they make or lose to the public, Spiegelworld is as distinct in this aspect as it is in hundreds of others. Last year, its founder, Ross Mollison, revealed that F1 cost his company $500K in lost sales due to average attendance of 200-300 per presentation. Cirque du Soleil, on the other hand, can draw audiences as large as 9,000 people to its shows.
So, we’re most certainly talking about millions of dollars in entertainment money lost to Formula One last year and again this year.
Although the idea of F1 paying businesses for lost revenue has been mooted, it has yet to be implemented. Most likely, this is owing to the massive number of claims F1 would face if it opened the floodgates.
So yet, only smaller casinos and eateries, such as Ellis Island and Ferraro’s, have sued F1 for clearly visible income drops.
Currently, no entertainment producers have decided to pursue this option.
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