Miss America leaving Atlantic City (again) for Connecticut

ATLANTIC CITY — She’s somebody else’s problem now.

Miss America, the financially strapped, scandal-tinged, identity-evolving, still beloved (in some places), nearly 100-year-old Atlantic City institution, is bolting once again from the Boardwalk.

NBC, the network television home for the 2020 pageant, announced Tuesday afternoon that “The 2020 Miss America Competition” will be telecast live on Thursday, Dec. 19, from 8 to 10 p.m. from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn.

The announcement caps months of uncertainty for the organization, which lost its multimillion-dollar subsidy from the State of New Jersey even as then-board chair Gretchen Carlson and executive director Regina Hopper sought to remake the organization.

Carlson and Hopper eliminated the swimsuit portion of the competition and made other changes designed to increase the pool of women entering the local feeder pageants. But they faced an uprising from entrenched state pageant leadership and former Miss Americas.

In the statement, Hopper stressed an evolving future.

“The Miss America Organization is proud to partner with Mohegan Sun as we return to our longtime NBC home,” she said. “We are looking forward to a fresh take on this historic competition that will showcase the incredible women vying for the job of Miss America 2020.”

In Atlantic City, where Miss America has occupied less and less bandwidth in the city’s efforts to move itself into a more relevant and sustainable future, the organization was reconciled to downscaling from its historic home inside Boardwalk Hall. There was interest from Ocean Casino Resort, the former Revel, in hosting Miss America.

But Ocean, which just changed owners and is owned by a New York hedge fund, was unwilling to meet demands from Miss America, sources said.

Sources familiar with negotiations between the Miss America Organization and Ocean said the competition was looking for a payment from a venue in the range of $1.5 million.

Reaction in the Miss America world was mixed, with comments focused on the location and the midweek time slot for the finals, which formerly was held on a Saturday or Sunday. The date — pre-Christmas, as opposed to the traditional September — was also worrisome.

“Who in the world wants to go to Connecticut in December??!!!” said one commenter on a Facebook fan forum. Uncasville is a suburb of Norwich, about 50 miles east of New Haven.

“Ok, here we go again, don’t they know this is an Atlantic City event?” said a commenter in an Atlantic City forum. “Why do people think you can capture the same magic somewhere else? All the things that made the city great are all but gone.”

Others were less sentimental. “They lost me with the first move,” said one.

The Miss America Organization previously left Atlantic City for Las Vegas in 2006, staying for seven years in which it was more or less overlooked in the busy casino city. The pageant was lured back with generous subsidies from the Christie administration as the state began to focus efforts on marketing Atlantic City.

Ray Pineault, president of Mohegan Sun, said the resort is “thrilled” to be hosting “an impactful event like the Miss America competition” and looked forward to “a tremendous evening.”

There was no word on whether the casino will host a pre-competition parade, as has been tradition on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Miss America 1984 Suzette Charles of New Jersey, who has been an advocate for better ties between Miss America and Atlantic City, said she was disappointed by the announcement.

“It’s an historic event that started here, that left, that came back,” Charles said. She noted the irony that earlier Tuesday, a new “Atlantic City Experience” historical exhibit had been unveiled in the lobby of Boardwalk Hall, now named for the late Mayor Jim Whelan.

“It’s unfortunate they couldn’t figure it out, how to raise money, how to build on what’s been here for 99 years,” Charles said. “I think it’s unfortunate. It’s like smoke and mirrors. I hope by the 100th they get it together and bring it back where it belongs.”