In 4.2 miles, the Las Vegas Strip packs in dozens of world-class hotels, hundreds of restaurants at every imaginable price point, and more entertainment choices than perhaps any place in the world.
That's what makes Las Vegas the perfect city to host a major event, whether it's a convention that brings in 200,000 people, an NBA All-Star Game, the NFL draft, the Stanley Cup finals, or even a Super Bowl.
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When something like the Super Bowl heads to most cities, transportation becomes a problem. Few cities have a mass of hotels, performance venues, restaurants, and convention spaces packed into a tight cluster.
Las Vegas has more than enough of everything for nearly every imaginable scenario. Yes, hotel rooms prices go up when a major event comes to town, but that's Caesars Entertainment (CZR) -), MGM Resorts International (MGM) -), Resorts World Las Vegas, Wynn Resorts (WYNN) -), and other players pricing into demand.
You might not be able to get a room at the price you want during a major event, but the city almost never fully sells out. The same is true for airfare. It costs more to get to Las Vegas during March Madness or over the New Year's Eve holiday, but you can still get there for the right price.
Formula 1 has decided to come to Las Vegas for a one-of-a-kind race on the Las Vegas Strip in November. That race, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, has pushed prices at Las Vegas Strip hotels to record levels and tickets to viewing sites along the Strip have sold quickly at premium pricing as well.
Now, as with any other event, the Las Vegas Strip can handle the crowds. But the F1 race brings with it a new problem that even Sin City appears unable to manage.
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The Las Vegas Strip Has Rich People's Problems
When race weekend hits Nov. 16-18, Las Vegas will become the top place to be in the world for Formula 1 fans. Some of those fans are very wealthy and that's going to create a problem the city has never seen before -- it's going to run out of space for private jets.
"So many more private jets than average are expected to fly in for the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend [that] there may be nowhere place to park them all. We’re talking potentially hundreds more," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Las Vegas has been preparing: The Clark County Aviation Department "recently built an 18-acre ramp expansion at Henderson Executive Airport. It should be large enough to handle as many as 80 private jets, depending on their size, bringing capacity at Henderson Executive to more than 200 aircraft parking spots," the paper reported.
Harry Reid, the main Las Vegas Airport, also plans to make an additional 14 acres of land available for private-jet parking.
"We were planning for the Super Bowl, then Formula 1 was announced, so a lot of our preparations we were doing for Super Bowl quickly turned into, 'let's do it four months early and do it for Formula 1,'" the Reid airport's senior director of aviation, Jim Chrisley, told KSNV.
Las Vegas officials have been working with other F1 cities to try to anticipate demand and get ahead of it.
And it won't just be the normal folks staying at Caesars, Wynn, MGM, and other properties paying more during race weekend. Fees for parking private jets are expected to be well higher than the typical $100 per night charged normally.
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