The President and CEO of Hard Rock Stadium Tom Garfinkel defended the food prices that went viral on social media during the Miami GP Formula 1 claiming they were posted “out of context”.
Garfinkel, who is managing partner of the F1 event and also head of the NFL Miami Dolphins team, spoke to specialized media including Motorsport.com about food prices. He said the prices reflected the financial diversity of participants, who ranged from regular fans to VIPs and celebrities in the expensive hospitality sectors.
“Someone came here and tweeted that a lobster was $280 without adding any comments,” he said. “The context wasn’t included. It’s a dish for 10 people, probably, for $280.”
A crowd of 275,000 fans attended the Miami Circuit over the three days, an increase of 5,000 compared to last year and 45,000 compared to the inaugural event in 2022.
Garfinkel highlighted that, in general, tickets are around 150 dollars – these options were introduced after criticism of the high prices – they provided an affordable three-day option with several observation points around the track and above the F1 paddock in the NFL field top seats.
Fans
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“I think it was really fun to watch, for the first time in three years the 300 level stadium was almost completely full,” he said. “They can walk across, where there are steps and people can climb up if you buy a $150-a-day ticket — and be right next to the track.”
“And that exists in several areas around the track. You can go up to the top of the stadium, walk around, see a lot of the track and the concessions are open just like for football. So there are options that are cheaper and there are a lot of them spread out and there are some options that are more expensive, and there are some options that are very expensive because [o renomado chef famoso de Nova York] Mario Carbone is there making his vodka rigatoni, and it’s going to cost a lot of money.”
“We just try to offer options and sometimes people point out one thing and say ‘that’s too expensive’ without putting it into the context of a dish that’s made for 10 people, right? So there are also cheaper options, which is important for us.”
