In the lead-up to the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, Formula One was preoccupied with dismissing accusations of monotony and lack of competitors, provided that Red Bull had been dominating the circuit with an uninterrupted streak of victories.
While Tom Garfinkel, CEO of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium that hosts the race, can’t do something concerning the on monitor product, they’ve upped their leisure recreation by including new glitzy parts to the whole ‘fan expertise’.
It is not any coincidence that F1 selected Miami, considered one of America’s main get together hubs, to introduce two new fan centered options by rolling out a Formula One theme music and a splashy pre-race showbiz type driver introduction.
Interest in Formula One within the U.S. has been supercharged by the vastly well-liked Netflix collection “Drive to Survive” that gives an entertaining behind-the-scenes take a look at the game.
But the truth for each promoter is that on this planet of fickle followers you now have to “Entertain to Survive.”
“I’d say the demand last year was because of the excitement of the first year and this year demand is still very strong,” Garfinkel instructed a small group of reporters within the new Paddock Club and garages that line the entrance straight.
“We didn’t have a problem selling tickets, it wasn’t an issue,” he added.
Last 12 months the Miami Grand Prix was the most well liked ticket in South Beach and, whereas resale demand has softened, this 12 months’s race is once more a sellout with 90,000 attending Sunday’s race.
While the grand prix is the anchor for a weekend of enjoyable, the races themselves are not sufficient to make the occasion a monetary and industrial success.
Nowhere is that idea of ‘fan expertise’ extra understood than in South Florida the place sports activities, live shows and the seashore are all jockeying for a slice of the leisure greenback.
Hard Rock alone hosts three of Florida’s largest sports activities – the Miami Grand Prix and the Miami Open tennis in addition to being dwelling to the NFL’s Dolphins.
Wide alternative
Miami sports activities followers haven’t been wanting alternative this week on find out how to spend their cash with the NBA’s Heat in a playoff battle with the New York Knicks and the Florida Panthers in a Stanley Cup post-season run towards the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“They (ticket sales) are basically the same and we had tremendous demand last year and this year,” mentioned Garfinkel. We held the tickets to about 85,000 final 12 months on function.
“It’s actually essential to have the ability to present expertise, get individuals out and in of right here with out three hours of site visitors and contours at concessions and bogs so we tried to carry the quantity this 12 months.
“We want to add a little bit so we’ll be somewhere around 90,000.”
No sporting occasion attracts A-listers like Formula One and Miami was once more a magnet for celebrities and titans of trade, pulling in a few of the world’s wealthiest industrialists like Tesla and Twitter proprietor Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Miami debuted a brand new driver introduction to the grid that F1 says shall be used at eight races this season.
The U.S. Grand Prix in Austin tried one thing related when famed boxing announcer Michael “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” Buffer launched every driver earlier than the beginning of the 2017 race and was broadly panned.
The thought behind the catwalk is to supply extra interplay between drivers and followers.
The emcee in Miami was rapper LL Cool J who launched the drivers as they appeared by way of a line of pom pom waving cheerleaders whereas a 30-piece orchestra carried out by will.i.am supplied the musical backdrop with the brand new monitor – The Formula.
“I think the goal though was just to produce a great event, a great experience for people, and if we do that we think over time the demand will stay there,” mentioned Garfinkel.
“Hopefully that’s what’s happening this weekend and the demand stays strong next year.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
