Miami GP Eyes 100K Daily Fans, Prioritizes Experience

Miami GP organizers aim to gradually expand to 100,000 daily fans without compromising the quality of the event.

The organizers of the Miami Grand Prix aim to accommodate 100,000 fans per day in future races, but will take their time to reach this figure despite high demand.

This year marked the third edition of the race and it saw the highest attendance so far, with 275,000 fans visiting the Miami International Autodrome over the race weekend.

While Sunday’s race was sold out, the daily capacity currently stands at around 92,000 seats, and the race’s managing partner, Tom Garfinkel, asserts that this is a figure he aims to build on without negatively impacting the fan experience.

“We are always trying to slightly limit capacity to ensure we can deliver the right experience. I think if we hosted 125,000 people per day here, the traffic would worsen, the refreshment stands, the bathrooms, everything would deteriorate.”

“However, we designed things with the future in mind. The pedestrian bridges, for example, were all temporary in the first year, and by the second year, we actually purchased all these bridges. They stand all year round, even during football matches in the parking lots, and they are twice as wide.”

“So, we bought the bridges with the idea that we can increase our capacity in the future while having the necessary bandwidth to allow people to move through easily, safely, and without bottlenecks. I think these might be the widest bridges in the world—they are all literally twice as wide as the standard. Therefore, we plan to increase attendance in the future.”

“But for now, we are still trying, for the third year, to ensure we offer this great experience, hopefully, and to develop it slowly. In the long term, we would certainly like to be at more than 100,000 per day. It will simply be a matter of monitoring how well we are still delivering that experience. If we can continue to do so by adding 5,000 here and 5,000 there, if we feel we are pushing the limits, we will keep it to that.”

Garfinkel believes there is still significant growth potential for all American races on the Formula 1 calendar, as recent figures suggest, since each offers unique ways to attract fans.

“Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas are all very different cities with three very distinct cultures. We try to be unique in Miami, and Vegas does what Vegas does best, and Austin does what Austin does best. I think these differences are all positive because it means that fans can choose the one they enjoy the most, or choose to go to all three and have different experiences in each.”

“We are just trying to be Miami—trying to do things a little differently and create fun activities, from people spending $150 a day for a campus (football stadium) pass to those who might spend $15,000 a day for a truly high-end luxury experience. So, as long as we continue to do this and everyone is happy, we will try to increase capacity.”