Through the Door: The Insider's Perspective on Running a Business

Fast Lane to Opportunity with Formula 1

• Nevada State Bank • Episode 14

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Megan Comfort sits down with Lori Nelson-Kraft, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. With decades of experience in communications and community engagement, Nelson-Kraft shares how Las Vegas became the flagship U.S. destination for Formula 1 and how the race has grown into a year-round economic and cultural force. She discusses the city's unique appeal, the nearly billion-dollar impact of race week, and how F1 is creating opportunities for small businesses, nonprofits, and students through local partnerships and STEM-focused initiatives.

All price references and market forecasts correspond to the date of this recording. This podcast should not be copied, distributed, published or reproduced in whole or in part. The information contained in this podcast does not constitute research, recommendations, representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements of any information contained in this podcast and any liability from Zions Bancorporation, N.A or its divisions (including direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage) is expressly disclaimed. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. or any of its divisions. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is not providing any financial, economic, legal, accounting or tax advice or recommendations in this podcast. In addition, the receipt of this podcast by any listener is not to be taken as constituting the giving of advice, investment or otherwise, by Zions Bancorporation, N.A. to that listener, nor to constitute such person a client of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Copyright reserved by Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Nevada State Bank is a division of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Member FDIC

Welcome to Through the Door: The Insider’s Perspective on Running a business. I'm Megan Comfort, Small Business Manager at Nevada State Bank. And this is a podcast where we interview business owners, entrepreneurs, and business leaders in the state of Nevada and get them to share some of their stories and experiences running companies and the day-to-day of their lives. So with that being said, please make sure that you tune in and subscribe to any place where you can download a podcast as well as YouTube. So if you wanna see our beautiful faces, you can actually see the camera footage on YouTube. It's a great watch, you won't be disappointed. With that, my next guest is Lori Nelson Kraft. She is the Senior Vice President of Communications, Government Affairs, and Community Engagement for Formula One,(...) something that's very new and exciting to Las Vegas. Prior to her joining the F1 family, she worked as the Communications Senior Vice President at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Did I say that right? I did. Hopefully, Lori. All right. I will try to stay away from the acronyms. So thank you, thank you so much for being here. It's a pleasure, thanks for the invitation. Yes, so I'm very honored to have you actually on this podcast, especially having the role that you have and bringing something or being a part of the organization that brought something new to Las Vegas. You were kind of in a unique position with that. Tell us a little bit about your origin story of moving into the role at F1. Sure, thanks, Megan. So when Formula One was knocking on the door of Las Vegas, I happened to be on the Las Vegas destination side, part of the team at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and it was actually September of 2021, full pandemic, everyone's still wearing their masks, all that. But Formula One and its parent company, Liberty Media, had been taking a keen interest in watching Las Vegas as it was evolving into the sports and entertainment capital of the world. And the two sides sat down and Formula One had expressed interest in saying, we're trying to grow our footprint in North America, specifically the United States, and there's no better place than Las Vegas. It is the top travel destination in the entire world, and all eyes look to Vegas. And with Las Vegas getting professional sports teams and the infrastructure to really support it, it was exploding on the scene of being the top sports destination. So the two worlds coming together in that initial meeting, I had the privilege of sitting in that first meeting when the two sides came together and said, how do we make this good for both of us? And Formula One and Liberty Media, as with all the races around the world, and we are the 24th race in the calendar,

 

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they wanted to do something so different and so Vegas. And that was not to have the race just anywhere, but to take the thrill of F1 and those cars traveling at 220 miles an hour and combine it with the best skyline in the world, which is the iconic Las Vegas strip.

 

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And the interesting part is Vegas loved the idea, business leaders, resort leaders, government officials, of having the number one motorsport in all the world with a cache of really going after a luxury market as a unique, important opportunity for the tourism market and for Las Vegas to get the eyes of the world and put Las Vegas on a global stage. And so, as you know, from banking and having been here,(...) Las Vegas has that can-do entrepreneurial spirit and those conversations escalated, more stakeholders of all the right people in town came together to really talk about the feasibility, the infrastructure, how do we make this happen? And there was an aggressive goal of wanting to be on the calendar for November of 2023. So you're talking about in less than two years from an initial meeting to the inaugural race being hosted, Las Vegas together with Formula One,

 

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put together a spectacular fan experience, it came at an enormous infrastructure cost and it was a very large undertaking of having to create a circuit

 

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which was on the public right away streets of the iconic Las Vegas strip, having to pave that, which was a huge undertaking, having to-- I remember that, I remember the traffic. It was hard to be friends with us in inaugural year, but we have-- It was okay, it was worth it. We have since really worked hard to make improvements and make it good for everyone.(...) But the idea of building a permanent pit building, which was also unusual because they are temporary facilities in other places, but there was a big story behind why build a permanent 300,000 square foot facility, purchasing 39 acres of land, and the two sides coming together made it happen. And sure as anything, that race happened, it was spectacular, and the exposure and global stage that Las Vegas had was incredible,(...) with a keen eye on making this an annual event during the slowest traditional week Las Vegas tourism has ever had on its calendar. And so all those pieces together made both sides really come together saying this can be good for everyone. I love that it was a very thoughtful partnership that they talked about, one, what F1 was going for and kind of their basically key points, right, that they wanted to drive home as far as creating a presence here in the United States and picking Las Vegas, but that also the side of Las Vegas really ensured that it was going to be something that would really benefit the city long-term and the community long-term. And that was a big piece of it. It is a complex undertaking. It requires so many public and private entities to come together, public safety, thoughtfulness on transportation and movement of not just getting locals to move around, but you've got over 150,000 hotel rooms with 300,000 visitors coming in and out every week. And so you really have to listen and plan for and really work through a lot of complex issues to pull off something of that magnitude. Yeah, I would agree. So tell us a little bit about kind of just a little, what I found interesting when you and I had talked actually the other day, you had mentioned that all the other F1 races that have been in the United States have been kind of temporary structures or temporary circuits, if you will, that have gone through the US. And that here, this is a home base, right? You guys have a actual location open all year round for people to actually experience F1 and get the thrill of understanding that sport and the race and the experience, not just during that one week that it's here in Las Vegas.(...) But tell us a little bit more about that because that was new actually to me. I didn't realize that all these other races of F1 were like temporary.

 

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So really, really interesting. And I've learned a lot along the way is, so Formula One's based out of the UK, Liberty Media's its parent company and acquired it less than a decade ago. And the goal was, hey, and not many people know this, but this year is Formula One 75th anniversary. It has such deep roots in Europe and Asia.

 

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But it didn't have a strong foothold in the United States until almost a decade ago, the first race, permanent race came into Austin. And then on the heels of that Miami and Las Vegas was the third one. But unlike any other race in the world, the racing rights actually belong to outside promoters who are awarded the privilege to partner with F1 and they pay a very substantial fee, almost like a franchise rights. It's probably not right to call it that, but that's a way to put it in perspective, to partner with F1 and bring it into their community. So in Miami, the Miami Dolphins, for example, are the ones who produce every aspect. And so they have the racing rights and they promote it and they bring the local partners and they handle ticketing. And it comes with an enormous amount of resources from F1 and its regulatory body over it. But here in Las Vegas, there is an extraordinary investment by Formula One and Liberty Media in Las Vegas for a few reasons.

 

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One,(...) pit buildings and what we call Grand Prix Plaza here, they're typically not permanent facilities and they're created for the event itself or there's existing infrastructure that has come in or it's used for other things. Here, Liberty Media and Formula One wanted to own the racing rights, which gives us here in Las Vegas more resources, more opportunity to thrive and grow the brand. But there was a real keen eye on Las Vegas really becoming the Monaco of North America and to make Las Vegas that sees over 40 million annual visitors a year, make that the flagship here in the United States. And so a permanent pit building that we call Grand Prix Plaza and built on 39 acres of land that were purchased by Liberty Media and Formula One shows a $600 million permanent investment in that building. And I think many thought for going into the inaugural year, all that was built for just one week of racing. But there was a larger goal and that was to really expose and introduce Formula One to fans from around the world that come to Las Vegas, but specifically here in North America in the United States, this past May, we debuted Grand Prix Plaza as open to the community and we put in three major F1 themed attractions from karting on EV go karts through the team garages and the finish line. I'm glad you loved it. I loved it too.(...) There's F1X, which is an immersive interactive exhibit that takes you through the history of F1, but you get to see and feel and touch and do a pit stop challenge and design your own car. And there's racing simulators and also private event space that we've been able to host a lot of community events. And the idea was to open the doors to the community and show them where the Formula One race happens and give them access into a building and get to see and touch and experience the brand without necessarily needing a ticket to the event. And so we will, the facility is shut down three months out of the year to make way for building out hosting and dismantling the race because Grand Prix Plaza is the start and finish line. All the team garages are there and it's the largest fan zone of all the fan zones we have.

 

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But after the race come January, we will put back all those attractions in the event space and it will once again be open to the community. I feel like only in Las Vegas can you make those things happen. You talk about just such a short timeline from when they initially came here and said, "Hey, we're looking at doing this in Las Vegas.(...) Let's come together and figure out if this would be a good partnership to the first race." And then all the things that kind of come into play as you're gearing up for having the race, which timing wise is fantastic for our city because of the ongoing economic just boost and growth that it allows us to continue having, especially during slower periods. So tell me a little bit about that economic impact that Formula One has on Las Vegas and on so many of the local businesses that are here. Yeah, well, thank you for that.(...) So sporting events and when I was at LVCVA,(...) they have a really robust research department and really there was a lot of studying going on of what do live sporting events really do for tourism and how do they really benefit? And one of the positive indicators was really demonstrating that when live sporting events came to Las Vegas, visitors would stay longer and they would spend more. And that has stayed true.

 

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We're a couple of weeks out from our third year race, but coming off the heels of let's take inaugural year out because that's always a unicorn that performs and-- The hype is there. The hype is there and you've got to normalize and learn from things. So let's look at year two.

 

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Outside of what Formula One benefited from, from ticket sales and its global partnerships and its merchandise and things like that,(...) Nevada benefited to the tune of an economic impact from just race week alone of $934 million(...) to our local economy. And everyone's trusted friend in economic impact reports is utilizing applied analysis. And we appreciated their insights and their thoughtfulness as they put this together. But when you look at, well, how does that really break down? You look at just alone, I think it was 43, $45 million just in taxes that benefited the state, the county. 15 million of dollars of that went to the schools alone.

 

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The temporary part-time labor of nearly 5,000 direct and indirect jobs that happened.(...) A priority wherever we could on hiring local goods and services here in the market if it wasn't too specialized in racing and where we had to go with an emphasis on that was really a priority as well. And then that final layer of really investing in the community and demonstrating

 

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that we are not just an organization that's here for race week only that were invested throughout the year and how we invest back in the community. And so those were some really great stats that came out of the report. And LVCVA together with Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix also looked at the multiplier of the exposure,(...) getting the world stage, not just during race week, but it's one thing when you have over 300,000 unique visitors to your three-day event.(...) On top of that, it was the global broadcasts for Las Vegas and the millions of commercials on digital platforms and broadcast rights.

 

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Inaugural year was probably mind-blowing because in race week alone, Las Vegas received six times more publicity for its global exposure around the world than it receives in a given year. And so while you are directly bringing in visitors for that slowest week of the year, you're also just giving Las Vegas these free gorgeous commercials of these iconic places and activations and experiences. So it plants the seed in all these other countries that may not have had us on the radar screen for future consideration. And that's one of those attractive propositions of the benefit as well. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think a lot of people don't realize when you look at our tourism volume, where it's really coming from, how much actually comes internationally and the goal to try to increase that. So a partnership with F1 absolutely makes complete sense. Not only that, just the exposure. I feel like no matter where I go, everyone has a story of Las Vegas. That's one thing that I do love about living in the city is when people see my ID, they're like, oh, you're from Vegas. I live there from this year to that year, or oh, I passed through. And so it's really kind of a unique city to actually say that you live in. And no, we don't live in hotels. It's a question that we probably get all the time, right? Isn't that funny? It's still a question today. No hotels, there's actually community. It's pretty cool in Las Vegas off the strip too.(...) But I mean, to put us out there with other countries and really focusing on, other countries travel to the US, but they might not think of Las Vegas, right? Or they might think Las Vegas is something entirely different. That's one thing that I love about our city and our constant evolution over time to adapt. There's a lot of cities in the US, not to say anything bad about any other city, but I don't know if there's other cities that can evolve and adapt and change as frequently as Las Vegas has with just the dynamics and the changing times of what people want to experience. Well said. And I think you can see the magazine covers over every five, 10 years saying, "Has Las Vegas? Is this the death of Las Vegas? Is this the," and then ebbs and flows of its coolness and whatnot. But one thing is constant is you can go back over 100 years, 150 years for Nevada and 100 years for the city of Las Vegas and the county is Vegas is different. It has the entrepreneurial spirit, the can-do attitude. It constantly reinvents itself. And just when outsiders think we're down and out, comes the next wave. And it's interesting because I think others replicate it. In fact,(...) some of our race components and the activations and the bold things we've done at our events, other F1 races have taken notice and those global sponsors and partners and they want to do it the Vegas way.(...) And it's really opened the door for us of other opportunities at the other races too. Yeah, the capabilities of what it could actually become. So tell me a little bit more about the actual F1 experience that's here in Las Vegas, because that's something that I also think is really unique is it's not just about going to the race and seeing the cars and obviously maybe putting some money on the winner, whatever the case may be, but it's about really all of these things coming together, like the flavors and the culture of Las Vegas and a person being able to actually experience everything that the city has to offer during that time here. That's a great question because going into it, I wasn't necessarily a motor sport fan. I am a spectacle and event fan. And the really cool part, if you don't know about how it's hosted, is it is a three day event and actually sometimes four and five days with other ancillary events that come in. But it is, and to say it's just racing, doesn't do it justice because it is a spectacle. It is an out and out entertainment experience from the moment you step foot in a fan zone until you leave. So three days worth of actual racing. So Thursday there's two practices. Friday there's practice and qualifying. And qualifying says what position the cars will be in when they race on Saturday night. And then Saturday is the actual race itself. And I think also something very different than the rest of the Formula One calendar is most races are on Sunday during the day. We are Saturday night very intentionally.

 

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One, to have the bright lights of the iconic Las Vegas strip as the cars are zipping through and you get those beautiful aerial shots. But Saturday night also from a tourism strategy standpoint of visitors and wanting to go home on Sunday nights, they'll come out earlier, but having a Sunday race, changes the dynamics of people coming home. So three days of that racing and in between those races, there are multiple fan zones. So people and fans buy tickets in different fan zones. And the Sphere Zone for example,

 

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is its own set of grandstands and it has live entertainment concerts every single night. And so those fans in that zone also get the privilege of live shows. And then there's tons of activations. Last year we had an ice skating rink on the rooftop of the Paddock building. We had a wedding chapel.

 

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This year, a lot of our partners like Lego, they're going to activate all of our global partners, find creative ways to bring their brand to life and interact with the audiences and give them something really cool to emotionally connect with with their brands. And then the food and culinary scene is really interesting and that's part of it. And it's all a white glove experience. This is a luxury race. It is a high end feel and experience, but not necessarily at the ticket holders

 

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at a cost to them. So what we've learned is we've created multiple experiences. So fans can have everything from a luxury hospitality suite that comes with food and beverage and live entertainment and great viewing areas to a grandstand experience, to a GA ticket that is really affordable. And this year we really even expanded the GA experience.

 

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And we've also done single day tickets. And so we've learned too that, you know, while a lot of diehard fans want to be there all three days, some people can't be there. So we tiered our ticket prices for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So Thursday night becomes a really friendly price point that if you just want to dip your toe in and you're like, I just want to see it. And, you know, I don't have the budget or nor do I want to put a budget towards a three day package or a high end suite experience, you can still get in at those really good prices. And this year, and there's already been a lot of chatter about it, the support race is the F1 Academy, which are the female drivers. And so F1's really made an investment in female drivers in that next generation. And so they will have their own pit building. It's in the South Covel zone across from the main Grand Prix Plaza. And their cars will start and finish from there. And, you know, they'll be, it'll be extra racing that the ticketed fan gets to experience. So it really is all that. And then Vegas comes in and Vegas sizes it. And LVCVA and our resort partners like MGM Resorts, building out the Bellagio Fountain Club and Venetian. I heard that was a cool experience. Yeah, so everyone kind of, all of our great partners, Wynn and Venetian and Caesars, they really harness that power of their brand and what's important to their customer base that they're bringing in. And so the two global brands coming together and just trying to make it like an off the charts experience, like the little hairs on your arm go up, like when you're in that moment and you're like, wow. And that's before any of these race car drivers get into their cars and you see the speed and the exhilaration and the strategy that they're employing. It's a 3.8 mile track. It's public streets. And so there is special permission that has been granted by Clark County.

 

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It is a privilege for us to take over those streets. It takes a lot of coordination, a lot of coordination with a lot of businesses in and around the circuit to make sure that employees can get and guests can get in all the logistics of vendors being able to get in and out during those three days. A lot of planning goes into making it that spectacular. God, the logistics of just that alone, just thinking about all the ins and outs and all of the things that have to go right and that could go wrong and how you kind of make sure that it's lined up perfectly so that everyone has a great experience. I mean, that's just, I would love to be inside that boardroom when you guys are going through everything. That just sounds like a lot of coordination. There is, you know what? And it's coordination, it's collaboration, it's listening, it's adjusting based on the feedback you heard.

 

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We want this to be good for everyone. And we got our sea legs, we learned best practices, we're learning how to get better,(...) quicker,(...) more efficient in the circuit build out so that as we built it out, it was mainly in the overnight hours. And all that comes at everyone helping us to navigate around town and make it good for everyone. Yeah, one unique thing is the night race, the fact that it's at night. I wonder if that creates more of an added challenge for some of the drivers of the experience to kind of do it at night, just given nighttime visibility is a little unique. So I'd say inaugural year over the second year is because if you think about it, they never got a chance to experience the track. So everything's new in those practice laps that they do is the nighttime is the weather conditions. Even though they knew November was cold here is there's five sets of tires for different weather conditions and adapting to all of that. But we got really positive feedback after inaugural year from the drivers that it was a competitive course, they enjoyed it. This year as we go into the third year, you'll see that one of the lessons learned is we have an earlier start time for the race of 8 p.m. last year it was 10 p.m. And some of the lessons were our resort partners were like, this is great, but we also wanna make sure that our visitors have an opportunity to enjoy time with us before and after the race. And so that time became much more beneficial for them. We saw the advantage of East Coast broadcast pickup.

 

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Again, when we started with such a late time, it was one, the glamor of the strip and the glistening lights, but it was worldwide attention of what time will this air.

 

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And what we learned over time is those fans who have been fans for 75 years in all those countries, they will wake up kind of like soccer at whatever for World Cup and they will wake up at whatever time to catch the race. In the United States, we saw that there was a better opportunity(...) to start it earlier for the East Coast instead of a 1 a.m. start time. Again, we're really trying to grow the fan base in the United States. So let's remove that barrier of saying, and if you wanna watch it live, it's starting at 1 a.m. And so we think that that's going to be really beneficial.

 

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After the summer of having Formula One out in such a big way with a movie with Brad Pitt in it, that really raised the visibility for our motor sport. Yeah, I have to watch that movie. I have not seen it, but Brad Pitt is in it. So I'm like, all right. And F1, I mean, it is pretty fascinating. I have friends that are getting more interested in F1. It's funny how the conversation of just the different sports that come to Las Vegas, it really is becoming more of a regular conversation when before, when we didn't have the nights and we didn't have any sports, like you really didn't have a discussion about really any sports team or anything that was going on necessarily unless you were just naturally a sports fan. What I think is so cool about this is that the people that are just interested in the spectacle and the events and honestly just very proud of the community that they're in now, everybody in the city is talking about the Vegas Golden Knights and Formula One and the Raiders and all of these cool and the A's that are coming in, all of these cool sports teams because now it's a part of our community, right? It's something that is getting embedded within our culture. And that we're part of getting to see it come to life. I remember the day watching in my office when Gary Bettman gave Mr. Foley and Las Vegas its first professional sports team and it was a moment. And then when our Aces got a back-to-back championship and that was our first championship here in Nevada, I mean, those are milestones and getting to grow up with a city and a state like that, it's really exciting because a lot of us came from somewhere else originally that had a lot of that infrastructure in place and it is really exciting and it is a source of pride because there isn't just an F1 race just anywhere

 

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and having the Raiders and having the Aces and it's having VGK, like, wow, we've grown up so much. I know, we have. We've really, we've continued to evolve, which is makes this place never boring to live. I feel like you always live in a new city when you live in Las Vegas because it's always reinventing itself. Well said, well said. So tell us a little bit more about kind of the increase in popularity in the United States with F1. Has Liberty Media and F1 seen kind of an uptick in interest from the United States in the sport now that they've kind of made a home here? It is, having the three races has really put the US on the map. Montreal has one in Canada, but it is. And we're seeing that fan base grow. We're seeing a new generation of fans drive to survive on Netflix has done an exceptional job of giving everyone a behind the scenes look at what the motorsport is about and a chance to emotionally connect with the drivers because as a sport, sometimes too,(...) most people have a hometown team. And so here there are no Las Vegas drivers that are part of the circuit.

 

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You know, the Haas having a racing team and now building in Henderson is really cool. GM coming in with a team will give us more US appeal. And so we are seeing a lot of that growth. It is nice drive to survive, the F1, the movie, and having a presence in the United States, having the attraction open inside Grand Prix Plaza is giving us those layers of growing here. And it's been really fun. And I've got teenage nieces and nephew here and on their own, they are finding their way into the sport. And my nephew outsmarts me all the time and tells me things about drivers I don't even know.

 

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And so that's really cool to see.(...) And you see more of that. And last summer, we had gone into the cities of North Las Vegas and Henderson and done a big ticket giveaway and we wanted a chance to introduce ourselves out in the community. So we activated at some of those parks. And you're not sure when you kind of put it out in the universe of, hey, come out and interact with us and you have a chance to win tickets and all that. When we saw real fans in Las Vegas, the locals coming out and they had team shirts and team hats and you could start to see that those seeds had really been planted on their own that we really do have a lot of fans here in Nevada that on their own have found F1.

 

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And then that multiplier of now it's here is really cool to see how it's coming together. Yeah, the excitement of it all I think is probably one of the most intriguing and like biggest drivers, even for people that aren't necessarily initially F1 fans, just being able to experience something that's been around for 75 years that is world renowned, that is everywhere. And actually during COVID, I think I watched the F1 docu-series through Netflix,

 

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just because COVID time, you really didn't do much but watch Netflix, I feel like there was a lot of stream of surge. There was a lot of stream of love, yes. Yeah, astronomically during that time, but it really did. It made you understand that there is a strategy, the uniqueness of it, just the team aspect of the F1 races and everything that's poured into it outside of just the driver itself(...) to make the whole thing work. It's like really a unique kind of experience. Yeah, and there's a lot of synergy like the career opportunities and the career paths in Formula One and the engineers and all of that that is needed in there. It really, it kind of opened the doors for us too on the community front of really, and we made it one of our community pillars was STEM education's really big here in Nevada and there's so many schools that focus on it and so we've really been able to use the power of the careers in racing as an opportunity to open the doors of Grand Prix Plaza and get kids excited about potential careers that they could have in racing. You don't need to be a race car driver, but wow, to see those careers, that's something we can use our power for and getting kids excited about what their careers could hold. So tell me more about that community engagement aspect. That's something that I find very unique that F1 has really kind of leaned into. Any big organization that's coming into a community, you would hope that they would engage with the community and truly be invested in just the overall infrastructure and how they can give back. There's been so many nonprofits that I've been a part of just through Nevada State Bank that really there's giveaways of F1 tickets and different initiatives that you guys do to really just kind of add value to every organization that is within our community. I love that you bring up the STEM schools that are here in Nevada and trying to engage kids as well from a career perspective, not just come watch the races and be interested in F1, but there's a whole world here that's going to open up for you for you to understand and learn about that you can build a path towards. Well, thank you for asking. And it's one thing I'm exceptionally proud to be part of Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix is that leadership at the top has made our commitment to the community a priority and really saying,

 

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we're not just here for race week. We are invested in being here 365 days of the year. We care about this community and we want the community to understand that. And it starts with,(...) we have a fully local team here. This year, we are 140 permanent employees that year round work on our behalf. In Las Vegas? In Las Vegas. Specifically for Las Vegas Grand Prix. And so it starts there of our investment in the community. But what we did is we really said, who do we want to be and where can we make,(...) where can we make the biggest impact? And so we focus on our community pillars, which again, kind of feed into the F1 ecosystem. So sustainability is really important to F1. It's really important here in Nevada, in Southern Nevada. We made that one of our pillars. STEM education and being able to use our influence, our resources and our power in that space was natural.

 

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Helping small businesses and investing in utilizing local businesses and helping them succeed was a big one. And then disadvantaged youth and helping to introduce them and expose them and give them an opportunity where they may not have had one. And so we started with that. And so a lot of our proactive initiatives(...) center on that.

 

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And so we have done everything this summer. We took our carding program inside Grand Prix Plaza and we hosted a free community carding camp for 250 middle schoolers in the Boys and Girls Clubs.(...) And they got a full day. We had throughout the month of July, they got a full day at F1 camp. And there were carding competitions,(...) there was F1 education, and there were career opportunities. And from all those camp days,(...) the top scorers in carding got to compete in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. And those top three winners will be our guests at the race. And so we got to do things like that. And then the following week, we opened our doors and hosted a back to school event for 2,000 foster care families

 

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that are part of Clark County Family Services. And so those are just a couple examples of what we've done(...) kind of in the spirit of being able, we wanna touch and help as many charities as possible. And so going into the fall, we did a 100K community giveaway and we did a call for nominations to invite other local charities that may not have hit our community pillars to have an opportunity to secure one of five $20,000 grants. And so those are some of the things we do. We get a ticket allocation that we've gone out to so many nonprofits that, for auction packages,

 

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that they can leverage those tickets out in the community. But one thing me and my team are most proud of is our extraordinary locals program. And we go around town and we have learned of extraordinary locals making extraordinary contributions in our community. And we parachute in and we surprise them and we invite them to be guests at our race. And so those are just a few. And that's before we even, before we get that amazing call from Make-A-Wish to learn, one of their kiddos, their dream is to go to an F1 race. And we don't just invite her and her family to the race, but we sneak them in the night before the race to the paddock area where all the race car drivers are and gets a behind the scenes tour. And then when we learned that Charles LeClaire was her favorite driver, we reached out to his team and before you know it, they're on board and he invites her into his garage and gives her a tour and answers any questions. And so, the variety of what we've been able to do and really find, we're striking a balance of what does the community need? Where can we make a difference? And it's really cool that we can really leverage the power formula one to make a difference here in Nevada. Yeah, I just got chills when you talked about the Make-A-Wish foundation thing. Cause I mean, that's just, what a magical moment for that family and that child. That's amazing. And just, I mean, all the other programs and things that you're doing, like how cool of an experience is it for these kids to be able to experience F1 and like just such a fun and memorable day? Yeah, last year and this year too,(...) the Wednesday before the race is community day. And so, last year we brought in 600 middle school students that were a combination of STEM focus or from the most challenging neighborhoods. And CCSD helped us figure out those 12 schools and they got a behind the scenes day, an exclusive tour behind the scenes in and out of the garages. They got to meet with different careers in racing and then Lewis Hamilton was a surprise appearance at the end of the day, just to really inspire them. And that started the day and at the end of the day, we were able to invite in a dozen students from UNLV School of Engineering that were part of the racing club. And they got to meet with three different teams in their garages and do Q and A's and ask questions. And so it's really cool that we have all this real estate and then First Nevada that like really celebrates STEM and they do all these really great STEM competitions. Their kids got to be our grid kids and they were lined up during the national anthem, each of them with a different race car driver. And so it's really great that even during race week, our community has a chance to really be part of these festivities.(...) Yeah, can I be a janitor part time? Just during those moments and then I can kind of experience the same thing. I mean, that's so neat.

 

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So outside of F1 and I love that you talk about these community pillars. Was that something that you brought to the table when they recognized like we really need somebody that is local within the community that's been in Las Vegas, right? Yeah, understands this community that's been engaged for many years. Like tell me a little bit about the creation of those pillars and how you saw value. I love that you talk about that. And then you also talk about even if you're not within these pillars, but you're part of this community, we wanna figure out as a company how to give back. Yeah, so that was a great collaborative effort and that had a lot of input from all of our stakeholders. And part of it was what do we do really well? What's in our DNA? Where do we have extra resources? And so you're really merging, how do you understand Nevada? How do you understand Southern Nevada and its needs? And how do you harness the power of what you have and bring them all together? So there were a lot of great minds that came together. There's nothing I will take credit for there. What I can take credit for is that I have three decades of knowing and loving this community and having worn the community communications hat for so long, whether it was my 14 years at Station Casinos or in the role today is helping Formula One as they were getting integrated in the community understand who we are, how unique we are. And that, I think every company has that realization. When it comes here, it says, I am going to bring this fabulous product or service here.(...) And Vegas is just a little different and we care so deeply. And we just, where I think I was probably helpful is, how do we really introduce ourselves the right way? How do we go out in the community and make sure we're listening and we're doing things that matter to the community? And that's just, I think that just comes with having lived here for a really long time. There's so many great causes out there. And like any organization that wants to give back for the right reasons, you can't be all things to all people. So what you try to do is try to pick a few things you can do really, really well that make the biggest and best impact

 

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because you just can't say yes to everything. I love that you brought that up. I think that's one thing that a lot of bigger companies or just any organization can get lost in when you're trying to do be everything to everyone. You really start to lose the narrative on what is important and where you can add the most value. F1 is nailing it when it comes to community engagement and just all of the amazing things that you guys are doing. Not just with like kids and education and all of those other initiatives, but also just with every organization that's here. And some of the things that I've been able to attend just to get exposure to F1 and the Grand Prix Plaza. It's just been such a cool experience that you talk about in the community when you're among friends and you get to say, oh, I have little mini burgers. Yeah, I had such a wonderful happy hour at the Grand Prix Plaza and got to race in the cars and things like that. Naive, actually, for me, I was like, oh my God. When I saw the email come through from Sandy Melton, our marketing director here, I thought, I was like, I think I get to drive in a real F1 car.

 

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And my husband was like, no, they would never let you touch that car. It's like way too expensive. And I'm like, are you sure? I'm pretty sure I get to drive one. He's like, no. You got the replicated smaller version. I don't think this fits in an F1 car, nor my lower back would do well with it. I know, I was like, I'm pretty sure I need to wear sneakers. But regardless, it's a beautiful facility. And yeah, the experience is so cool. And I didn't get to do the virtual one, although I do want to go back and check it out. I will say, so I'm not as good at the virtual simulators as I am at karting.(...) So I've got a ways to go with simulators. I think you got the right one. The karting has just been off the charts. And it actually is a feeder. Lewis Hamilton told the kids last summer that he got his start, eight years old, in karting. And so it is a first introduction. There is a more sophisticated karting beyond what we are offering in the competitive world of where you take it next. But that's exactly what our CEO, Emily Prazer, wanted when we stood up the karting camp for the Boys and Girls Club was she goes,

 

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and if there is a glimmer of someone who really has potential, we can look and see how we can invest in them. And so one of the things she's charged us on the heels of coming out of this year's race is creating a karting league as well.(...) And starting similar to the other sports, of introducing it to kids and giving them more of an opportunity to experience it. And if there is that kid-- There could be a future racer that comes out of Las Vegas.

 

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That is her big hairy goal, is to bring those worlds together. Now I don't-- I feel like it's gonna happen. I can already tell. So you mentioned something earlier in the conversation that I kind of want to circle back on just a little bit. Because it is something that I've heard just being in my role as the small business manager. A lot of small businesses and local businesses here being able to interact and engage and do business with F1. And just some of the things that have really helped those businesses continue to grow and grow within our community.

 

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What are some of the things that you look at as an F1 organization when working with the other businesses that are within this community?(...) Well, I think one of the best parts about Las Vegas is it has thrived and nobody does hospitality better. And so it's so funny, because I'm sure you get spoiled when you go to other towns. And you're like, why isn't the service level as sharp? Why aren't the hours as flexible? Oh yeah. You can't go to dinner anywhere if it's like 9 o'clock because they're closing. I hear you're spoiled. And so the businesses understand the business of hospitality. And so having so many that have flagships here and understand being nimble and the extra resources that are needed and the extra talent, even like our outside--

 

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while we hire a lot of local F&B from catering and food trucks and different types of things,(...) inside Grand Prix Plaza, there is an outside global partner that comes in. But even they hire all local talent(...) when they come into the market. And so one of the things we're trying to get better over is I think-- and I underestimated this, and probably the public would have too-- is we are still a startup. We are a three-year-old organization. And so we are learning and growing. And just a few short months ago, we actually moved into setting up our own procurement department, which we hadn't done before. And so within there,(...) we're really, as we host our third-year race and as we regroup for our fourth-year race, is working with the procurement team in a more sophisticated way on my end to have more meaningful opportunities we can put out there forbidding on goods and services.

 

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But leading up to that, each of the department heads, they all came from different areas of hospitality here in Southern Nevada anyway. And so they were really accustomed to working with and knowing a lot of the local groups of the goods and services that we need being available to us. And so our hope is, as we plan for year four, there's more opportunity for those smaller businesses, not just us, because we make an enormous commitment to using local talent, but the teams that come in from out of the market, the global brands that come in from out of market, making sure that if and when they need local goods and services, we've paired them up, and we know what they need, and we can help facilitate those conversations. That's the bigger, hairier goal that we'd like to have. Now, a lot of them,(...) the global brands, they do because they come in and activate in Las Vegas for other conventions and things like that. They too have made a really big commitment to the local market, and so we appreciate them using it. So we're a work in progress on that, and I think there's gonna be greater opportunity with how we formalized procurement now moving forward that we're just gonna be able to do even better in that space. Yeah, you brought up a great point that I honestly wouldn't even think of, nor would I think most that you are a startup here in Las Vegas. Yes, the organization's been around for a long time, but you creating those processes and those things to just continuously get better and improve over time, it's going to take a lot of learning lessons and just reviewing how the year went and what you want changed differently going forward. I love that you bring that up and that you guys are looking to continue to stay committed to trying to engage with as many small businesses or businesses that are local in our community as possible. I know it's a big thrill. Anytime I've ever heard any business say, "I'm doing something with F1," they just get so excited, regardless of-- And I love hearing that too, because it's not like I know every single vendor partner that we have, and so when I hear the, "Oh, I got to provide this good," or "These services," or "I got the call," and then the smile is, that's a source of pride for me, because I love me some Las Vegas. There's a reason I've lived here 30 years.(...) I really am proud and I love knowing that I get to represent an organization that equally wants to do right.

 

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So this is my last question for you, but what would you say is a guiding principle that you would love to leave our listeners either in business or in life that you've learned in your role?

 

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Honestly, in any role that you've had.

 

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For me, it is,(...) if you say you're gonna do it, do it. I am all about say what you mean, mean what you say, and that follow through is your reputation and the reason why when you walk into a room, people trust you and you can have their ear the next time. You may come back wearing a different hat,

 

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representing a different organization, but if they know you and that that's what you live by when you walk into a room and how you work with people, that goes a long way. I love that, yeah. Say what you're gonna do and then do it. It is the easiest way to build trust and I would say naturally, the people that I've gravitated towards or that I've looked up to have definitely learned how to execute on the things that they say. And F1 is clearly doing that too, so thank you so much for being here today. Thanks, Megan, it was great. And thank you for tuning into Through the Door, the insider's perspective on running a business. Don't forget to subscribe and I hope you enjoy this episode.

 

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