Miami targets year-round motorsports experiences, but not more racing

The organizers of the Miami Grand Prix want to provide more motorsport experiences throughout the year at the Miami International Autodrome, but hosting other racing series is not part of that plan.

Miami joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2022 and has grown as an event each year so far, with a record 275,000 people attending over the three-day weekend earlier this month. The race’s president Tyler Epp says further improving in the grand prix is a major target moving forward, alongside developing a more permanent motorsport culture at the Hard Rock Stadium venue.

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“I think there are two big things for us,” Epp told RACER. “Number one, I think it is continuing to invest in Formula 1. They are our biggest partner in our motorsports business, so continue to invest in the product and what they do and making sure that we are doing that in a way that is sticky and relatable for our fans.

“Right now we operate as one huge F1 event at our facility every year. We have to make sure that we are delivering that at the highest level, and so the fans that do enjoy coming and have continued to come, we've got to develop a relationship with them. So there's there's a lot of work that we need to continue to do to cultivate that fan base.

“I think the second part of that though, is creating other motorsports experiences on our campus. And Steve [Ross, Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium owner] and Tom [Garfinkel, Dolphins CEO and Miami GP managing partner] have been very intentional about trying to work in more motorsports-type events, into the things that we do in our facility as a whole throughout the year.

“We’re going to be working on that a bunch this summer and on into the fall, to give not only to people who come for Formula 1 weekend, but also those people who are interested in car culture in South Florida a place to come and experience motorsports at the highest level.”

Despite F1 being the only racing event to take place at Miami International Autodrome so far, Epp says there are no plans to try and attract other series to the circuit, that has limited availability due to the impact of the NFL season and Miami Open tennis tournament in spring.

“It would be tough,” he said. “And that's not really part of the strategy, honestly. The strategy is much more to figure out ways to work with the private driver, or the private car collector, the people that just love cars – the car clubs, if you will – and really offer our facility as a place for them to come and have the the best experience they possibly can.

“We haven't had any conversations with any of the other racing series. It's not really on the program. We like having our professional racing series focused on one weekend with F1 as our lead.”