Miss America Organization Email Scandal Dooms TV Deal That Included CRDA

crda, miss america, boardwalk hall, atlantic city


The future of the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City was already on shaky ground. High costs, large CRDA subsidy and murky ROI has been a drag on the iconic event that got it’s start almost 100 years ago.

Now that a nasty email scandal has emerged, and it’s TV production partnership no more, what kind of damage will this scandal inflict? Not just the Miss A. organization and the pageant, but how will this affect Atlantic City, Boardwalk Hall and the infamous CRDA?

According to the Associated Press, Dick Clark Productions has officially cut ties with the Miss America Organization over internal emails by pageant senior leadership that ridiculed past winners’ appearance, intelligence and sex lives.

Miss America Organization CEO, Sam Haskell, exchanged emails with a TV writer that included vulgar comments about past Miss America winners. Dick Clark Productions was made aware of the emails several months ago. Soon thereafter, they then notified the Miss America Organization that we were terminating the relationship with them.

In 2016, the Miss America pageant received $12.5 million in CRDA subsidies under a three-year deal. 

CRDA is regularly taken to task for supporting Miss America’s high costs and low ratings. As part of the CRDA deal, the Miss America Organization was required to promote Atlantic City during the pageant telecast and other ABC-TV shows. 

The Miss America Organization is based inside the CRDA controlled, Boardwalk Hall on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

RTFORTY reported that The Miss America Organization rents 1,800 square feet of prime Atlantic City real estate from the CRDA for $1,500 a month.

CRDA also may have contributed $589,709 towards design, engineering, and outfitting that space with additional mechanical, electrical, plumbing and a new entry door. The Miss America org has a deal with CRDA / Boardwalk Hall until 2018.

READ MORE on AP NEWS

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