Miss America pageant, AC kiss and make up

John Curran

Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- There she is. And there she'll stay -- for now.

Miss America Organization officials signed a five-year contract Tuesday to keep the famous beauty pageant in Atlantic City, 14 months after threatening to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

The deal, which will continue an annual $678,000 subsidy from the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, has options that could add 10 years to the term.

As important, perhaps, is what it doesn't call for: new subsidies.

Apart from the purchase of lighting and sound equipment needed to make Boardwalk Hall "TV ready" for the annual television show, the convention authority did not have to sweeten the pot, according to Chairman Mark Juliano.

In exchange for the subsidy and in-kind services to Miss America, the authority gets an Atlantic City plug on the annual pageant telecast and gets to use the reigning Miss America for 10 appearances a year at trade shows and other events aimed at showcasing Atlantic City to potential convention clients.

"Miss America really doesn't belong anywhere but in Atlantic City," Juliano said.

But there was a time when it appeared that Miss America's runway walks here were numbered.

In December 2001 then-CEO Robert M. Renneissen asked for up to $1 million in new subsidies to keep the pageant in Atlantic City, saying it would be cheaper to hold it elsewhere.

At the time, Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., MGM MIRAGE of Las Vegas and unnamed other interests were in talks with Miss America officials about hosting it, according to pageant officials.

But a compromise was reached under which the pageant would stay another year while a task force of local business and community leaders searched for ways to help the Miss America Organization reduce its costs.

While some savings were achieved through the task force, including the providing of free meals and transportation for pageant judges, those costs were not part of the contract, according to Miss America Organization CEO George Bauer.

Part of the reason pageant officials wanted more money was because of the high cost of staging the event at Boardwalk Hall.

The hall underwent a two-year, $90 million renovation but was not completely prepared when the 2001 pageant was held less than two weeks after the terrorist attacks, and production costs soared to nearly $1 million that year.

By contrast, the installation of the sound and lighting equipment since then -- together with other efficiencies -- helped the Miss America Organization stage the show for less than the $678,000 subsidy last year, according to Bauer.

Keeping the pageant in Atlantic City wasn't the goal, ensuring its fiscal health was, according to Bauer.

He signed the contract Tuesday along with Juliano in a ceremony attended by more than a few locals who had feared losing one of Atlantic City's original claims to fame.

"It should be here," Gary Hill, a prominent Atlantic City businessman, said. "It was born and raised here and it belongs here."