(Motorsport-Total.com) – “Ticket sales are around 25 percent higher than in an entire NFL season for the Miami Dolphins,” says Miami Dolphins managing director Tom Garfinkel in the podcast The Joey Pomp Show about the impressive Formula 1 numbers in the “Sunshine State” Florida. After all, the NFL and American football are the number one popular sport in the USA, and yet the organizers have managed to turn the premier class race around the Dolphins Stadium into a real revenue pit.
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Formula 1 in Miami: More ticket sales than the Dolphins’ entire NFL season Zoom
Of course, sales do not equal profits, and the goals of the Miami Dolphins and the organizers of a Formula 1 race are different. The NFL team is investing to win the Super Bowl, but the infrastructure for the games is already in place.
Bringing Formula 1 to North Miami is a business deal for organizers, but a race track and event facility needs to be built out of the ground. That costs a lot of money.
Competition in the US sports market
The first Miami Grand Prix took place in 2022 after the coronavirus pandemic and global supply chain issues prevented the 2021 debut. The race, which takes place in a suburb of Miami south of Hollywood, is contractually secured for ten years. With the date in May, Formula 1 avoids an overlap with the NFL, the biggest spectator magnet for sports fans in the USA.
The NBA enters the hot phase of the basketball season in May, and with the Miami Heat a very popular local team is represented in the championship. There are also the NHL playoffs, where the Florida Panthers are also based near Miami. In motorsport, NASCAR is still ahead of Formula 1 on average, but the numbers generated by the two races in Miami are impressive.
The event is said to have brought 350 million US dollars (around 325 million euros) to the region when it debuted in 2022, and in 2023 it is expected to even reach 450 million US dollars (425 million euros). All tickets for the first race were sold out and 243,000 fans made a pilgrimage to the track on the race weekend. For comparison: The NASCAR Daytona 500 race attracts around 130,000 fans to the OVal on race day alone.
Demographics and viewership positive
On television in the US, there was a decline in viewership from 2.58 million to 1.96 million from 2022 to 2023. But Formula 1 beats NASCAR in demographics, because the race in Miami was better positioned in the core market of 18 to 49 year olds than many NASCAR races. According to Garfinkel, Formula 1 was in the red in its first year because expected costs were significantly higher, but the trend should reverse in the decade to make the race profitable.
A first step was to convince Formula 1 not to hold the race in the city center. The race would have taken place in the city center, but the infrastructure would have been a major obstacle. Garfinkel explains in the podcast: “We would have had to start preparing three to four months before the event, and that would have upset many people because they would have had to accept losses in their business.”
“That’s why I thought it would be better to hold the race near the stadium,” the Dolphins general manager continued. “It’s a challenge in downtown Miami with 20,000 people wanting to go to the Heat game. With over 100,000 fans that would have been even more of a challenge.” A top-class tennis tournament, which also took place in the stadium area, was the benchmark and a complete success.
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Event instead of just racing
In addition, Garfinkel is committed to bringing Formula 1 closer to all fans. He also does that with the Dolphins, where tickets cost between $100 and $1,000. The ticket prices for Formula 1 are high, but Miami also relies on offering different categories. Weekend tickets for the 2024 edition are currently available from around 800 euros, but there are also luxury versions in the Formula 1 Paddock Club that start at around 9,300 euros for a weekend.
The next step, according to Garfinkel, was to create an event that satisfied all of the attendees’ preferences. The first priority was a track that offers spectacular racing, but the supporting program also had to be right.
“It’s about creating an environment with good food, music and great experiences for visitors,” he says. The cultural importance of Miami in the USA should be underlined, because the city also lives from its atmosphere, culture and art.
Miami a unique selling point?
The result: 30 hospitals and 65 independent kitchens had to be built. It was worth it: “We achieved a record ticket sales with the Dolphins last season; the race alone brought 25 percent more ticket sales than the entire Dolphins season [in der NFL]”. The mastermind of the events and the NFL team also relies on a young team that can show its talent to make the events a success.
Another important point, according to Garfinkel, is to stand out from other racetracks: “It’s something different to be at Spa or Silverstone. We just want to be different. We want to be more creative and innovative. We also want to try things that might not work . We want people to come and think, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that.’ We’re enjoying this.”
But why didn’t the debut in 2022 bring in a profit? Garfinkel also has some explanations for this: “In 2021 there were a lot of problems with the supply chain. The seats for the stands were supposed to come from China, but we didn’t get them. So we had to use local companies, which was more expensive, to ensure that the seats arrive.”
Costs for the route were high
Drainage also had to be built to direct any rainwater away from the route. And then there were the shows, the lighting and the design. The team, says Garfinkel, put a lot of energy into the details to provide the best possible experience.
This all costs a lot of money. It was also important to him that the fans had short distances to satisfy their needs: food, drink and toilets. “We want people to come back,” he clarifies.
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Miami relies on a large-scale event to retain viewers Zoom
Because of the work he has done, Garfinkel believes in the long-term success of Formula 1 in Miami. “The financial situation will resolve itself over time if we position the event correctly and have the right people with experience on board.”
In the first year, not everything that glitters was gold, but in the second year Garfinkel received “a lot of positive feedback.” The expanded supporting program at the track with sprint races and the F1 Academy should also help.
2024-04-27 11:19:40
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