The start time has been announced for the race on 11/23/24 Even with all the complaints about last year's start time it remains unchanged at 10pm Practice and qualifying times on the 21st and 22nd have yet to be announced
Looks like the practice and qualifying times have moved up. Thursday, Nov 21 FP1 6:30p FP2 10p Friday, Nov 22 FP3 6:30p Qualifying 10p In other news, MGM has opened up reservations for F1 weekend on the app. I booked a two bed suite at Delano. Not sure if I'm going to be able to go or not but I figure better to have it now and cancel if necessary
On the plus side, just s'posin on my part, a lot of the infrastructure is in place from the last go around, so the prep shouldn't be as intrusive. And I'm also thinking that the staff at Ole Red might be charging a premium on those balcony seats which didn't exist last fall.
The F1 organization really doesn't like people watching for "free," i.e. without them getting any money, so expect those seats to be operated under some kind of partnership program and to be $$$$.
I haven’t been to Ole Red yet so can’t comment on how high the patio would be relative to the strip. But I’ve heard from a few people that had seats at venues on the east side of the boulevard last year and they were not impressed. The catch fencing and retaining wall plus all the junk in the northbound lanes apparently impacted the experience for some.
I'm doing the same, when you booked did you see only some resorts available? Perhaps its my offers / status but I only see the ability to book properties South of Tropicana. Everything North is still listed as "Not Available"
Mine was exactly the same. I had MB/Delano, Luxor and Excalibur available. I called MGM Rewards and was told that the rest of the resorts were either not available for the nights requested, or were holding rooms back for packages.
Interesting interview from Bill Hornbuckle mentioning their approach to this year -- apparently the numbers were not great for the properties that weren't Bellagio and Aria, and in particular the south-of-Tropicana properties. https://cdcgaming.com/mgm-ceo-talks-uae-other-development-changes-in-f1/ This quote really stuck out to me: "It’s the only citywide event I can remember in decades that didn’t help the totality of the city."
They need to be doing something to bring in people to town who are F1 fans but happy not to actually watch to the race in person - perhaps only getting a seat for the practice or qualifying (leaving the race for high rollers) and then having a big watch party for the race (bring in some ex-drivers for before and after chats etc).
A good model would be the Super Bowl, plenty of people came down for the festivities but didn't go to the game. The NFL has been great with inclusion, with the Fan Fests and other ancillary activities for the community. F1 just seems to want to vacuum up money and not give anything back in return.
That's basically what my Cosmo host told me a couple months ago. The highest end resort casinos did very well. And the next tier down had packed rooms because of the High Roller overflow from the top tier. But it didn't translate into high end play at that next tier of casinos. All the high rollers that had to stay at the next tier properties because they couldn't get their usual suites at the top tier still went over to those top casinos to play
Things should go much smoother in 2024 and beyond. Most of the disruptions in 2023 centered on three things; Repaving LVB. This was a huge undertaking, but won't happen again for at least several years. Building the F1 pit and grandstands. This impacted traffic and access on Harmon and surrounding roads a lot. Now that it's complete, it won't be an issue any more. First time set up and break down of circuit. This should go smoother in future as organizers learn from experience.
