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Bigger than Taylor Swift? COTA Offers to Buy Back Tickets for 2024 US GP Due to Music Headliner

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COTA Offers to Buy Back Some 2024 F1 US GP TicketsChris Graythen - Getty Images

Organizers of Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix have launched an unusual initiative—asking if fans want to make a profit by selling them back their tickets.

Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix has been held at the Circuit of the Americas since 2012 and this year’s event will take place across the weekend of 18-20 October. The Grand Prix is one of the best attended on the Formula 1 calendar, with a weekend attendance of 432,000 in 2023, a figure COTA expects to be broadly similar in 2024.

The US Grand Prix is one of the events that complements its on-track action with off-track activities, most notably its Friday and Saturday night music concerts, which in the past has been headlined by Taylor Swift, Elton John and Bruno Mars.

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COTA officials have yet to reveal its headliners for 2024—with an announcement due on April 29—but COTA Chairman Bobby Epstein has promised a name “perhaps the biggest since the Taylor (Swift) announcement” in 2016.

Queen and The Killers headlined race weekend in 2023.

COTA is now offering those who purchased an early bird three-day ground pass admission a chance to sell their package back to the venue for a profit, between now and May 6.

Explaining the situation, Epstein said: “In the past we’ve done early bird ticket sales and we do that often before we’ve got our whole program developed. This year we sold more than 10,000 GA tickets at a price of $299, and we are going to offer those buyers a chance of a profit, we’re going to offer to buy back those tickets at $350.

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Taylor Swift was a musical headliner at COTA for the U.S. Grand Prix weekend in 2016.DAVID GRAY - Getty Images

“When we announce our performers for this year’s Grand Prix weekend we know those tickets will be worth well more than they paid. So we think that’s an unusual thing. It continues to be about delivering a spectacular event that pleases racing fans, music lovers, campers, anyone that wants to share time with friends and family.”

Epstein conceded that “I don’t think many people will take us up on it” and accepted that those wishing to do so could use reseller websites “though they charge a commission,” but outlined that COTA’s ploy “makes a strong statement for us” irrespective of the number of punters who accept the offer.

“It may even encourage future buyers to realize there’s value in buying early,” he said. “Those early buyers showed faith in their promoters, and will continue to do so, when you can see gestures like this.”

COTA is also one of five Formula 1 venues on the calendar—along with Lusail, Barcelona, Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring—which also holds a round of the MotoGP championship.

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Adam Lambert, left, and Queen headlined the U.S. Grand Prix weekend in Austin in 2023.Scott Legato - Getty Images

Formula 1 owner Liberty Media recently announced that it will be acquiring MotoGP, raising the prospect of greater collaboration between the championships.

Epstein agreed that a joint round in the future would be “possible, I don’t know that it’s probable,” owing to the safety implications and the commercial and sponsorship clashes.

But Epstein is confident that Liberty Media’s prospective ownership of MotoGP can boost the category, including in the US, where Austin’s round – which is far from a sell-out – is the only stop in the Americas for the championship.

“We’re excited by it—probably more than anybody,” he said. “MotoGP has come to the US, and really not had a whole lot of attention to it, and once they leave [Austin] that’s all you hear for about another 51 weeks, so this is a fantastic thing to have.

“We’ve had 12 years of commitment to MotoGP and we really believe in it, it’s a fantastic competition and it’s just waiting for more people to discover it, so hopefully we’re one of the biggest beneficiaries of this purchase.”