There Will Be an Atlantic City Segment on New Year’s Eve the Next 3 Years

It's part of a new $12.5 million deal that will keep Miss America in Atlantic City for the next three years.

"Miss America 1953 swimsuit competition" by Fred Hess & Son - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID pan.6a24762.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information. العربية | čeština | Deutsch | English | español | فارسی | suomi | français | magyar | italiano | македонски | മലയാളം | Nederlands | polski | português | русский | slovenčina | slovenščina | Türkçe | українська | 中文 | 中文(简体)‎ | 中文(繁體)‎ | +/−. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Miss America 1953 swimsuit competition” by Fred Hess & Son. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Yesterday, the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority agreed to pay $12.5 million to keep Miss America in Atlantic City for the next three years. That’s a lot for the city that once ceremonially renamed the street called Miss America Way when the pageant left town for a decade, especially when the event lasts just one week a year.

But wait until you see what the city got for it: Dick Clark Productions, which runs Miss America, is required to produce a live performance from Atlantic City during the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve TV special for the next three specials. The Inquirer reports the contract even goes through January 1st, 2019.

“We felt confident that we would get more than our money’s worth having Miss America promoted on these other occasions,” CRDA Executive Director John Palmieri said Tuesday during the CDRA monthly board meeting. The CDRA is an agency of the state government funded by a law that commits 1.25% in gross revenue of New Jersey casinos for development in Atlantic City.

The agreement also means the Billboard Music Awards, which are also produced by Dick Clark Productions, has to mention Atlantic City when Miss America presents an award. Again: $12.5 million for this.

The vote to fund the three-year agreement was 10-2, with Resorts CEO Mark Giannantonio and Atlantic County Chief of Staff Howard Kyle. He said the deal “doesn’t make sense,” per the Press of Atlantic City. Proponents of the $12.5 million in funding for the Miss America pageant say the city needs positive press right now, with the Atlantic City Alliance (of the “Do AC” slogan) essentially disbanded.

The Miss America pageant returned to Atlantic City in 2013. It is part of Atlantic City’s shoulder season, taking place the week after Labor Day.