{"id":306029,"date":"2024-01-09T11:58:57","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=306029"},"modified":"2024-01-13T11:56:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:56:58","slug":"f1-hires-former-las-vegas-city-manager-as-grand-prix-coo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/f1-hires-former-las-vegas-city-manager-as-grand-prix-coo\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Hires Former Las Vegas City Manager as Grand Prix COO"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Grand Prix has hired Betsy Fretwell, who served as Las Vegas city manager for eight years, as its new chief operating officer.<\/p>\n

\"Betsy
Betsy Fretwell, who also worked as Switch\u2019s executive vice president of strategy, chairs the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce\u2019s board of trustees and sits on the boards of Las Vegas Events and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance. (Image: YouTube\/Las Vegas Global Alliance)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are excited to add a seasoned professional of Betsy\u2019s caliber to our team,\u201d said a statement from Renee Wilm, Las Vegas Grand Prix\u2019s CEO. \u201cShe brings extensive executive experience working in the public and private sectors and will be an immediate asset to our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

As city manager from 2009 through 2017, Fretwell oversaw 3,300 employees and a $1.3B annual budget.<\/p>\n

Rough Road to Pave Over<\/h2>\n

Hiring a former city manager may be part of F1 owner Liberty Media\u2019s strategic response to harsh criticism leveled at the Grand Prix from Las Vegas businesses,\u00a0 residents, and tourists. Fretwell\u2019s duties include supervising the race\u2019s community relations, which are at a severe low point.<\/p>\n

\n

The nine months of road closures and construction delays it caused decimated many small businesses, and drastically inconvenienced casino workers and tourists alike. But multibillion-dollar casino corporations claim the race inaugural race resulted in their highest-grossing weekend ever.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last week, Gino Ferraro, owner of Ferraro\u2019s Ristorante on Paradise Road, wrote a letter to Clark County Commissioners, who approved the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix\u2019s annual reconfiguration of the Las Vegas Strip for nine more years, claiming that the race cost him $2.5M in revenue and $500K in profits.<\/p>\n

We heard from countless tourists that they will not return to Vegas during that time of the year,\u201d<\/strong> Ferraro wrote, adding: \u201cWho profited? A few hotels \u2026 How do we know what the ROI is with all the money that was spent to destroy the Strip, its surroundings, and ultimately, people\u2019s lives?\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

None of the negatively impacted businesses, workers, or tourists are known to have been compensated in any way by Liberty Media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly believe we need to rethink the strategy of how we can accommodate our visitors prior to the race and during,\u201d Ferraro continued. \u201cWe can\u2019t destroy the city for one weekend.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Grand Prix has hired Betsy Fretwell, who served as Las Vegas city manager for eight years, as its new chief operating officer. \u201cWe are excited to add a seasoned professional of Betsy\u2019s caliber to our team,\u201d said a statement from Renee Wilm, Las Vegas Grand Prix\u2019s CEO. \u201cShe brings extensive executive experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":306030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83505,81886],"tags":[89411,85066,89414,82543,89412,82381,23,82428,83694,82012,89413,89410],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nF1 Hires Former Las Vegas City Manager as Grand Prix COO - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Las Vegas Grand Prix has hired Betsy Fretwell, who served as Las Vegas city manager for eight years, as its new chief operating officer. \u201cWe are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/f1-hires-former-las-vegas-city-manager-as-grand-prix-coo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"F1 Hires Former Las Vegas City Manager as Grand Prix COO - 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