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06/05/2018
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Miss America Organization awaits judgment on its performance
Miss America contestants all know their fate depends on the judges.
Who are the finalists? The runners-up? Who is the new Miss America?
Now the pageant itself awaits a decision in a situation not unlike what the contestants go through.
The judges in this case include potential sponsors, production companies, TV networks, state pageant officials and volunteers, and ultimately, the general public.
Their decision will be whether Miss America survives as a relevant event.
The Miss America board has already taken important steps in the wake of a scandal that involved the revelation in December of vulgar, sexist and mean emails by pageant executives about former contestants. The organization’s CEO, Sam Haskell, and members of the board of trustees have been replaced by Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson and others who seem to understand the need to remake the pageant into an entertaining showcase for exceptional women that no longer objectifies them.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority’s recent decision to approve $4.325 million in funding for the 2018 Miss America Competition gives a boost to the organization’s prospects. But it is only a temporary vote of confidence in the Atlantic City tradition, which even before the scandal was struggling with relevance. Even after returning in 2014 to its traditional Boardwalk Hall home after a hiatus in Las Vegas and on cable TV, the pageant’s television ratings have continued to drop.
The CRDA money was part of a 2016 agreement with the Miss America Organization and Dick Clark Productions, which dropped the pageant broadcast from its plans in the wake of the emails scandal.
In approving the money, CRDA Board Chairman Robert E. Mulcahy III said the authority was encouraged by the pageant’s intent to have a competition that will “include a focus on women’s empowerment and other related programs.”
That would be great, but a date has yet to be set for the pageant, which traditionally takes place in early September. Resolving that issue — and finding a broadcast partner — would go a long way toward easing the worries of state pageants and other backers who are already in the process of selecting the women who would compete in Atlantic City.
There is no guarantee the CRDA backing will or should continue after this year. Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, D-Atlantic, and others have asked the important question of whether the CRDA could find a better way of promoting Atlantic City than the $4 million pageant subsidy.
The pressure is on Miss America officials to prove the pageant deserves continued backing from those fans and business partners it has relied on in the past.
The pageant has its strengths. The scholarships it awards are impressive. The excitement generated locally by last year’s Miss New Jersey, Egg Harbor Township’s Kaitlyn Schoeffel, was encouraging. The efforts she and other contestants make on behalf of their platforms are worthwhile.
Is it enough to keep alive a tradition that has been synonymous with Atlantic City since 1921?
We await the judges’ decision.
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