The Guard was there because of the 300k+ people that attended the race. F1 brings gigantic amounts of wealth into a city on race weekend - uber rich hundred+ millionaires to billionaires.
I used to live in the Austin area when the 1st US Grand Prix opened there. The idiots scheduled the race on a Texas Longhorns Football Saturday, where 100k+ people attend that game as well. Hotels were completely sold out for at least an hour in every direction, rental cars sold out immediately, restaurants were packed, and because the Horns game was on the west side and the F1 race was on the east side at the old airport (on the outskirts of town) there were massive traffic jams and nowhere near enough taxis to take care of everything. They had to bring helicopters and big buses to ferry people from downtown to the track. Of course they didn't make that stupid mistake again (game day), but it was really bad.
I was traveling for business at the time and would fly back to Austin on Friday nights. I was executive platinum on AA, so I was always upgraded - except on that weekend (coming in and going back out on Monday). All the 1st class seats were bought at full price, which didn't even happen during SXSW (South by Southwest music, tech, comedy, film, and politics festival). The only bad thing about SXSW was flights would sell out (I always booked in advance) and if you were in coach seating you likely wouldn't have overhead room since there were guitars and other instruments from the front to the back of the plane (both sides). The big bands, movie stars, tech execs, and VIP politicians (like when Obama was there) would come in on private jets. In 2013 Samsung did a scavenger contest with their new phones, and winners got tickets to a very exclusive Prince appearance at a local club: https://ew.com/music-festivals/2013/03/17/sxsw-prince/
The big difference between the US Grand Prix in Austin, SXSW, and the Vegas Grand Prix is the gambling. Of those 300k+ people a large percentage are what the casinos would call whales. I'm sure Vegas didn't want any of those people to be robbed/kidnapped/killed while so many were there since it would really hurt their business. To give you an idea, check out this article on a million dollar race weekend package at the Wynn.
I don't believe any of this is a conspiracy at all in Vegas - it was likely for survival of their brand. If anything bad like a big bombing or a kidnapping happened to any of the VIPs - especially after the concert shooting - it would be devastating for both Vegas and Nevada itself.
BTW - I never went to SXSW - it was really expensive.
The Guard was there because of the 300k+ people that attended the race. F1 brings gigantic amounts of wealth into a city on race weekend - uber rich hundred+ millionaires to billionaires.
I used to live in the Austin area when the 1st US Grand Prix opened there. The idiots scheduled the race on a Texas Longhorns Football Saturday, where 100k+ people attend that game as well. Hotels were completely sold out for at least an hour in every direction, rental cars sold out immediately, restaurants were packed, and because the Horns game was on the west side and the F1 race was on the east side at the old airport (on the outskirts of town) there were massive traffic jams and nowhere near enough taxis to take care of everything. They had to bring helicopters and big buses to ferry people from downtown to the track. Of course they didn't make that stupid mistake again (game day), but it was really bad.
I was traveling for business at the time and would fly back to Austin on Friday nights. I was executive platinum on AA, so I was always upgraded - except on that weekend (coming in and going back out on Monday). All the 1st class seats were bought at full price, which didn't even happen during SXSW (South by Southwest music, tech, comedy, film, and politics festival). The only bad thing about SXSW was flights would sell out (I always booked in advance) and if you were in coach seating you likely wouldn't have overhead room since there were guitars and other instruments from the front to the back of the plane (both sides). The big bands, movie stars, tech execs, and VIP politicians (like when Obama was there) would come in on private jets. In 2013 Samsung did a scavenger contest with their new phones, and winners got tickets to a very exclusive Prince appearance at a local club: https://ew.com/music-festivals/2013/03/17/sxsw-prince/
The big difference between the US Grand Prix in Austin, SXSW, and the Vegas Grand Prix is the gambling. Of those 300k+ people a large percentage are what the casinos would call whales. I'm sure Vegas didn't want any of those people to be robbed/kidnapped/killed while so many were there since it would really hurt their business. To give you an idea, check out this article on a million dollar race weekend package at the Wynn.
I don't believe any of this is a conspiracy at all in Vegas - it was likely for survival of their brand. If anything bad like a big bombing or a kidnapping happened to any of the VIPs - especially after the concert shooting - it would be devastating for both Vegas and Nevada itself.
BTW - I never went to SXSW - it was really expensive.