Las Vegas · Formula One · June 2026

Formula One is staying in Las Vegas until 2037

Clark County just locked Formula One into the Strip for another decade. The economics are undeniable, the frustrations are real, and the race is absolutely not going anywhere.

On May 19, 2026, Clark County commissioners voted unanimously to extend the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix contract through 2037 — a full 10 years added to an agreement that was set to expire next year. It wasn’t even close. Every commissioner said yes. And when you look at the numbers, it’s not hard to see why.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix first roared to life in November 2023, a gamble by Formula One to plant its flag in America’s most maximalist city. Three years in, that gamble is paying off in billions — and the county has decided to keep the chips on the table.

$2B+Combined economic impact, 2023–2024

1.5MUS TV viewers in 2025 — up 68% over 2024

3.8miStrip circuit length on Las Vegas Blvd

The money case

The 2023 debut generated an estimated $1.5 billion in economic impact — one of the richest single race weekends in sports history. The 2024 edition came in lower, around $934 million, but the combined two-year total crossing $2 billion made extending the contract a straightforward call for commissioners. County officials pointed to sustained tourism demand and Las Vegas’s growing international profile as key motivators.

And the TV numbers are explosive. A record 1.5 million American viewers tuned in for the 2025 race on ESPN — a 68% surge over 2024. In the global battle for American F1 fans, Las Vegas is winning.

By the numbers

The LVCVA is contributing $10 million per year in taxpayer dollars toward the race’s operation, with the county and F1 continuing to negotiate annual traffic plans, construction schedules, and community-impact mitigation as part of the extended deal.

What changes with the extension

The deal isn’t just a rubber stamp. Commissioners made clear that the next decade comes with tighter demands. The biggest: construction timelines must get shorter. Race organizers have committed to condensing the window for assembling and dismantling the 3.8-mile circuit, which snakes along Las Vegas Boulevard, Koval Lane, and Harmon and Sands avenues.

2023 — Inaugural Race

Nine months of traffic disruption. The entire course had to be paved to F1 and FIA standards from scratch — a one-time cost that shaped everything after.

2024–2025

Improved to a roughly four-month window: track assembly, race week, teardown. Half the time of the debut, but still a significant local disruption.

2026 onward

Infrastructure improvements — including more permanent fixtures for lighting and track elements — are designed to shrink that window further. The county is holding F1 to stricter scheduling requirements each year.

Through 2037

The race stays locked in to the annual weekend before Thanksgiving. Same circuit, same city — but with promises of a smoother ride for locals.

Not everyone’s celebrating

The vote was unanimous. The opposition was not silent.

Strip casino employees, small business owners, and local residents have consistently pushed back against the race’s construction chaos. For months around each event, lane closures, road reductions, and extended detours reshape the daily lives of workers who depend on reliable access to the Strip. Hotels and restaurants near the circuit report lost revenue during construction — revenue that the race’s headline economic figures don’t capture.

“Never in our town’s history has the will of the many been so flagrantly ignored to satisfy the interests of the few.”

Scott Roeben, Vital Vegas — F1 critic, responding to the vote

Commissioner Michael Naft acknowledged the tension head-on: “The Grand Prix needs to condense the timeline.” The county will continue to negotiate annual traffic plans and coordination requirements — a pressure valve built into the extension. But critics note that no compensation mechanism exists for businesses that absorb losses during construction.

There’s also the ticket price problem. Las Vegas GP tickets have consistently been among the most expensive on the F1 calendar, pricing out many locals who might otherwise attend. The race is a global spectacle happening in their city — one that many residents experience mainly through road closures rather than grandstand seats.

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The bigger picture

Formula One’s North American expansion has been one of the sport’s defining stories of the past decade, turbocharged by the Netflix documentary series and a new generation of American fans. Las Vegas sits alongside Austin (Circuit of the Americas) and Miami on the US calendar — three races in one country, a sign of just how dramatically F1’s American footprint has grown.

Las Vegas offers something neither Austin nor Miami can: a city-center street circuit in one of the world’s most recognized entertainment destinations, a race that genuinely looks and feels unlike anything else on the calendar. Drivers pass casinos, hotels, and the neon glow of the Strip at 200+ mph at midnight. It is, by design, maximum spectacle.

For F1, locking in Las Vegas through 2037 is a statement of confidence. The sport is betting that the city’s global brand keeps drawing the kind of high-spending international fans that make the economics work — and that the infrastructure investments will gradually ease the friction with locals.

The bottom line

Formula One is in Las Vegas until 2037, whether you love it or hate it. The economics are too strong, the global profile too valuable, and the vote too unanimous to suggest otherwise. The question now isn’t whether the race stays — it’s whether the next decade of grand prix weekends can become something the whole city, not just the casinos, can actually get behind.