Miss America pageant didn't deliver promised benefit to Atlantic City, analysis shows
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on July 25, 2016 at 4:07 PM, updated July 25, 2016 at 4:54 PM
New Jersey rolls the dice by continuing to fund the Miss America pageant during a time of struggle for Atlantic City. But a new report shows the promised economic benefit of the competition never materialized.
In February, the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority approved $12.5 million in subsidies for Miss America over the next three years. That number was significantly more than the $7.3 million that drew the pageant back to New Jersey from Las Vegas in 2013.
Yet a Bloomberg analysis of data from the state treasury department and New Jersey Casino Control Commission for the period of 2012 to 2015 shows revenue from luxury tax and casino parking dropped after the return of the pageant in 2013 and continued to decline through 2014 and 2015.
Local businessmen originally devised the pageant, which made its first appearance in Atlantic City in 1921, as a way to sustain tourism on the boardwalk in September, at the end of the summer season.
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An economic impact study conducted by NW Financial Group for the CRDA ahead of the pageant's return in 2013 estimated the pageant could bring $32 million in tourism dollars and $2.48 million in taxes. No follow-up studies were conducted to determine the actual impact of the last three pageants on Atlantic City.
"We haven't done an analysis based on what occurred last year," John Palmieri, executive director of the CRDA, told NJ Advance Media in 2014, as a string of casinos closed their doors.
The 2016 pageant deal requires that Dick Clark Productions, which manages the marketing of Miss America, promote Atlantic City during other TV programs including the Billboard Music Awards and New Year's Rockin' Eve. In November, the Atlantic City-based Miss America Organization announced a three-year deal with ABC, ensuring the pageant would remain on network TV through 2018.
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Speaking to Bloomberg, Palmieri called Miss America "an important brand" that brings a national TV audience to the city. But Don Guardian, mayor of Atlantic City, told Bloomberg the pageant is not worth the $12 million-plus price tag.
"The state is the epitome of wasteful spending," he said.
As the CRDA loses casino tax money to Atlantic City under a deal to save the city from bankruptcy, Palmieri said that in the future, the authority may decide to hone in on redevelopment projects instead of activities like the pageant. But he said the value of Miss America would ultimately be decided by the next governor.
The Miss America pageant airs live from Boardwalk Hall Sept. 11 on ABC.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/07/miss_america_atlantic_city_money.html
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