But the Grand Prix is part of an ongoing push to make the desert playground into a sports mecca: In the past five years the city has landed an NHL team, a WNBA team and an NFL team, and looks poised to attract an MLB team as well. Sphere plans to stage boxing and MMA fights, and in February, the city will host the Super Bowl. Outside of boxing and rodeos, Las Vegas has not historically been associated with live sports. Just don’t expect most local residents to be excited about it.į1 has invested more than half a billion dollars in the three-day event, creating a star-studded spectacle complete with fancy parties, celebrity chefs and musical performances by J Balvin, Journey, John Legend, Keith Urban, Steve Aoki and many others.Īfter two days of practice and qualifying runs, the race itself will take place Saturday night, allowing for peak visuals with the drivers zooming past such illuminated landmarks as Caesar’s Palace, the Bellagio fountains, the Paris hotel’s faux Eiffel Tower and the new Sphere entertainment venue. One of the most hyped events on the 2023 sporting calendar, Formula One’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix arrives this weekend, promising race cars roaring down the iconic Las Vegas Strip at 200 mph for the first time in the city’s history.
