Formula 1 has appointed Emily Prazer as the series’ new Chief Commercial Officer, a role she previously held with the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Prazer, who’d previously worked within F1’s Formula One Management (FOM) set up as Head of Commercial Development and Race Promotion, will now report directly to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
The Brit moved from London to Las Vegas to become CCO for the Las Vegas event, tasked with successfully delivering F1’s first GP in Sin City in approximately four decades.
The Vegas GP was unique in that it saw F1 itself act as a race promoter and although the event has encountered difficulties with disgruntled locals and disappointed fans – the latter resulting from the opening day’s practice fiasco, kickstarted by Carlos Sainz bringing out the red flag after hitting a loose drain cover during FP1 that saw attendees escorted away from the Las Vegas Strip circuit shortly before the running of a heavily delayed FP2 session – Prazer’s part in delivering commercially yielded strong results for the series.
Reports show that Prazer was instrumental in securing several commercial partnerships for the Las Vegas GP which helped contribute to F1’s Q3 earnings report for 2023 being in the region of $715 million, a seven per cent year-on-year increase (according to Blackbook Motorsport).
The commercial impact of F1 in Las Vegas was so great that MGM Resorts International Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard told a Bank of America investment conference in December that the GP weekend “was the highest-grossing weekend for us, in hotel revenue, in the company’s history,” as reported by The Nevada Independent.
Sports Business Journal adds that the Las Vegas GP’s title partnership with Heineken Silver was worth $15 million per year.
Prazer will now be tasked with bringing this commercial nous to the entire global F1 operation and will hop across the Atlantic between Vegas and London in the new role, whilst remaining involved in the Las Vegas GP operation.
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