Officials Expect U.S. Grand Prix Attendance To Rival That Of Inaugural F1 Event In ’12

2012 attendance was huge

Circuit of the Americas officials for this weekend's F1 U.S. Grand Prix "expect their largest crowds" since the inaugural event in '12, according to Kevin Lyttle of the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN.

Ticket sales have "declined every year since Austin's F1 debut, bottoming out last fall when torrential rainstorms led to thousands of no-shows."

The listed attendance "was 101,667 for race day and 224,011 for the three-day weekend."

Sunday's crowd "should" be around 115,000 after 117,429 attended the '12 race and 113,162 came for the '13 event. For this weekend, combined attendance will "likely push" the 250,324 seen in '13, but fall under the 265,499 in '12.

COTA officials are "trying to turn this into a festival, bringing in 20 local bands in addition to the big-name music acts and other types of international performers." Taylor Swift's performance Saturday, her only concert of the year, "could push that crowd upwards of 100,000." Austin American Statesman