COTA Is Buying Back Early-Bird F1 Tickets So It Can Sell Them For More Money

If you were one of the early-bird buyers who snagged $299 three-day passes for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix weekend, Circuit of the Americas wants your tickets back. They’re buying ‘em for $350, so you can get a full return on your money and then some. Just know the folks at America's only dedicated F1 circuit intend to do so because once the weekend’s musical acts are announced, they can sell those tickets for a lot more than that.

Before the U.S. Grand Prix, there's always a concert of some sort at COTA. The first run of tickets was priced and sold before the musical lineup was announced, and COTA boss Bobbie Epstein told Planet F1 “we know when we announce our performers for this year’s Grand Prix weekend, that those tickets are going to be worth well more than they paid.” As such, buy backs will be available until May 6, one week after the lineup is announced.

The Drive reached out to COTA for confirmation on details of the buyback program. A spokesperson responded, “Yes – the early bird ticket price was a limited time offer for $299. We expect the value of the ticket to increase after the music headliners announcement on April 29.”

“We hope all customers will want to hang on to their tickets and join us for the 2024 USGP, however we were excited to announce this offer as a strong statement of our confidence in the entertainment programming this year,” the COTA spokesperson continued. “As an added reminder – the headlining concerts both Friday and Saturday nights of race weekend are accessible to GA ticket holders so these fans are getting an incredible value of on & off track excitement included with their ticket.”

The only way this benefits current early-bird ticket holders is if they see the musical lineup and find the artists to be so heinous they don't even want to see the weekend's racing anymore, so they sell their tickets back and make $50. Otherwise, why would anyone want to give up their tickets for a $50 profit when they can just hang onto them and go to the U.S. Grand Prix at the lowest possible cost, especially since the tickets are going to be far more expensive once the musical lineup is announced?

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