LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's been almost two weeks since the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. As numbers start rolling in, MGM Resorts officials said it was a huge weekend for them.
"It was the highest-grossing weekend for us, in hotel revenue, in the company's history," Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard said during the Leveraged Finance Conference on Tuesday. "The second-highest was CES in 2019. So when you think about other events that have happened in Las Vegas over the years and the scale of our company, that's quite something to have a record weekend on what was otherwise the slowest weekend of the year."
Halkyard said the company anticipated it would do well, which is why they invested so much in the months leading up to the race.
"We had very high expectations for what this event would be in Las Vegas. We invested heavily into it. In particular, creating an experience for our casino customers and some retail customers in front of the Bellagio," Halkyard said.
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According to Halkyard, casino guests and employees had a good experience during the long weekend. It came after months of concerns surrounding how people would get to and from the Strip whenever road closures were in place.
"This was an event that certainly had a lot of friction in the months leading up to it, a lot of construction in Las Vegas. Some of that will certainly be recurring but a lot of it will not be as dramatic in coming years," Halkyard said. "F1 and the city got the city ready for this event. F1 invested hundreds of millions of dollars in capital in their paddock facility. That, along with money that we invested to build this hospitality experience, we'll reuse that year after year. I'm optimistic this is going to be a fantastic event in the years to come."
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As for a specific dollar amount, Halkyard didn't unveil that information during the conference. However, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority as well as Formula 1 and Las Vegas Grand Prix officials have stated they believe the race had an economic impact of $1.2 billion.
Formula 1 numbers will be included in fourth quarter earnings for many companies. MGM Resorts International, as well as Caesars Entertainment, will announce those numbers in an earnings call in the coming months.
