A bitter legal battle over the rights to promote a Formula 1 race in Las Vegas has been settled, bolstering efforts to bring the global racing circuit to the entertainment capital of the world.
The Formula 1 dispute with Miami tech entrepreneur Farid Shidfar warmed up in April following the public announcement of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix after a decades-long absence.
Formula 1, its owner Liberty Media Corporation and Shidfar issued a press release on Thursday evening announcing the agreement with Shidfar’s P2M Motorsports. The details of the settlement are confidential.
“We are delighted to have resolved this issue so that we can focus our local efforts exclusively on creating a flagship event for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in November 2023,” said Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO. of Formula 1.
Shidfar and his P2M Motorsports partners, former Las Vegas Assemblyman Chad Christensen and Russell Dixon, also released a statement.
“Our hope from the start was to see Formula 1 racing on the Las Vegas Strip,” they said. “We are happy to see the materialization of this event. P2M now sends its best wishes to Formula 1, Liberty Media and all members of this racing community as it embarks on what we believe will be a flagship of Formula 1.”
Shidfar told the Review-Journal in April that he and Christensen spent 11 years paving the way for the announcement but weren’t getting any credit of Colorado-based Liberty Media for their efforts.
“We did everything in our power to make this happen,” said Shidfar, who as a consultant helped shape The Cosmopolitan Resort brand when it opened in 2010. doubt that we are the driving force behind the event. We have spent a lot of time and resources to put it together.
Shidfar worked for years in Los Angeles for global consulting firm Accenture, helping companies like Disney, MGM, Sony Pictures and Hilton Hotels improve their business strategies.
Formula One and Liberty Media, which also owns the Atlanta Braves, Sirius XM and Live Nation Entertainment, filed suit against P2M Motorsports in 2021 in Clark County District Court. P2M Motorsports counterattacked.
Liberty’s attorneys alleged in their lawsuit that P2M Motorsports made “exorbitant demands” for millions of dollars from Formula 1 and interfered with the sport’s dealings with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and R&R Partners, the longtime convention authority marketing company.
P2M persuaded the LVCVA and R&R to sign confidential non-disclosure agreements in 2017 that prevented them from discussing the race’s strategic plans with other parties, including Formula 1, without P2M’s permission, according to the Liberty lawyers.
The convention authority and R&R Partners filed court documents last year seeking to intervene in Liberty’s lawsuit and seek a court order invalidating the nondisclosure agreements. Thursday’s press release said the LVCVA and R&R had agreed to the settlement.
In April, Shidfar denied making unreasonable demands on Formula 1 and tried to put up legal obstacles to a Grand Prix in Las Vegas.
“I didn’t do anything more than just protect our intellectual property, which they’re using now,” he told the Review-Journal. “They are forcing us to sue, rather than working with us on a way forward. It’s much cheaper than paying us for the effort we put in.
Formula 1 holds annual races for high-powered open-wheel cars in nearly two dozen countries such as Monaco, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Australia, France and Italy. Miami hosted a Grand Prix in May.
In Las Vegas, cars have to roar past iconic neon-lit resorts on Las Vegas Boulevard between Spring Mountain Road and Harmon Avenue, with part spilling over onto Koval Lane east of the famous Strip.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter. German is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reports that hold executives and agencies accountable and expose wrongdoing.
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