ABC Re-Ups Partnership with Miss America Organization

BURBANK: ABC Television Network has struck a new three-year partnership with the Miss America Organization, which is relocating the pageant back to Atlantic City, where it first began in 1921.

New Jersey’s acting governor, Kim Guadagno, along with the Miss America Organization (MAO)’s chairman of the board, Sam Haskell, and MAO’s president and CEO, Art McMaster, joined Atlantic City officials from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the Atlantic City Alliance and the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority to announce the move back to Atlantic City. Details for the 2014 Miss America competition will be announced shortly, but plans are already under way for the September event that will air live from the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall. Producer Anthony Eaton and his Tall Pony Productions company, who has produced the live event in Las Vegas for the last six years, will be working on the 2014 pageant.

Guadagno said, “For decades the Miss America organization has awarded scholarships to thousands of young women to help further their goals of higher education and achieve their dreams. New Jersey is proud to once again host the Miss America pageant here in Atlantic City. We are confident that Atlantic City’s famous boardwalk and variety of restaurants, shops and entertainment venues will showcase the city’s vibrancy and attraction to the participants and many visitors who will attend the Miss America pageant every year.”

Haskell added, “We are so very proud to bring Miss America back to her birthplace in Atlantic City. We are grateful to Governor Christie and his staff for helping make this possible. Today Miss America remains an iconic symbol, and our roots have always stayed connected to Atlantic City. We now look to the future as we prepare for our most exciting television event ever for Miss America with the support of our network partner, ABC.”

McMaster commented, “As we depart Las Vegas, we sincerely thank our friends at Planet Hollywood who have hosted us for the last eight years and the City of Las Vegas who helped us to achieve our best television ratings last January. We will now build on that success and begin a new era by returning the tradition to Atlantic City.”