Vol. 3, No. 12, December 2006
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Killer ‘Bs’
A busy sports season capped off in December
An alliteration frenzy describes the up-and-down 2006 Atlantic City sports season. The “B” had it. Boxing, baseball, Bally’s, Borgata, Boardwalk Hall and Bernard Hopkins defined a year of multimillion-dollar events and substantial change.
Boxing fans absorbed mixed feelings with Hopkins and Arturo Gatti departing the sport. Yes, Atlantic City provided the farewell tour, but the boxers have now gone. Casinos gained opposing perspectives. Bally’s and Borgata bankrolled major Boardwalk Hall events with the fighters, but saw a financial gravy train halt.
Golf fans enjoyed the 21st Shop Rite LPGA Classic, formerly known as the Atlantic City Classic, at Seaview Resort & Spa in Galloway Township. Then they shockingly discovered that the tournament, which has produced $12 million in charities, was cancelled for political reasons.
Baseball fans received a brushback pitch, but dusted off. The Surf, Atlantic City’s nine-year minor league baseball team, made a major move. It will switch to a summer league next year, ending most May and September games. But at least it will be here next year.
Rampant change summons a famous Vince Lombardi phrase.
“What the hell is going on here?” Call it cycles, long careers ending, economic reasoning and some bad luck. While the long-term forecast remains strong—Boardwalk Hall slates mixed martial arts events, Reality Fighting, the WWE, midget car racing and the 2007Atlantic 10 basketball tournament—this was a sad year for many fans.
Amid the mixed bag, some sub-plots were positive. Bally’s hosted a nationally televised November card featuring “Shobox: The New Generation,” and Caesars booked a December 2 world title bout card showcasing Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito at Boardwalk Hall.
Local boxers also excelled, as Pleasantville native and former world champion Virgil Hill won an Atlantic City bout at age 42. Mike Arnaoutis, based in Somers Point, utilized a local victory to obtain his first world title bout.
But the big news focused on a couple of fights, some major personalities, the laws of finance and a stunning development affecting area merchants, golf fans and charities.
Execution
Hopkins, nicknamed “The Executioner,” completed his career in electrifying fashion. His thorough dismantling of Antonio Tarver surprised the boxing world and rewarded Borgata.
The June 10 Boardwalk Hall battle over-achieved in both style and economic impact. Hopkins had lost two straight battles after holding the middleweight record for 20 successful title defenses. When he advanced two weight classes to oppose Tarver, one of the sport’s elite performers, he appeared crazy. And he wasn’t the only risk-taker.
Borgata took two chances. It bankrolled a fight that looked dull on paper given each man’s deliberate style. Borgata also uncorked an unprecedented dice roll. As a Marina property, it hosted a major midtown sporting event. The move defied prevailing logic that post-fight gamblers would only patronize nearby facilities.
Both Hopkins and Borgata prospered. Hopkins engineered a brilliant boxing clinic. Moving laterally, punching and tying Tarver up at close quarters, Hopkins turned Tarver’s energy against him. He actually toyed with one of boxing’s most prominent performers and won a lopsided decision.
Then he retired.
An excellent crowd produced strong post-fight gaming numbers and a buzz throughout Atlantic City.
The fight also showcased the relationship between the property and boxing’s newest power broker. Hopkins joined fellow champion Oscar De La Hoya in Golden Boy Promotions. Based in Philadelphia, Hopkins became the East Cost representative for the organization. Borgata hosted a number of boxing events in which Hopkins and De La Hoya appeared for promotional value. De La Hoya’s magnetic personality and impact on female fans made the fights successful.
Golden Boy has become the newest boxing force. It has signed a number of name fighters for boxing and promotional duties.
Goodbye Gatti
Bally’s, meanwhile, produced two blockbusters involving Atlantic City’s undisputed economic champion—Arturo Gatti.
The Jersey City whirlwind provided a string of Boardwalk Hall sellouts unmatched by any entertainer between 2002 and 2006. And unlike anyone else, Gatti’s future was never certain. Every fight was rumored to be his last. Each win ensured another outing, complete with multimillion-dollar implications. But a bad loss would spoil the party.
Bally’s officials also resembled gamblers. Like patrons nursing chips on every number, they breathed deeply when he fought. For four years, they avoided the dreaded seven-out. That finally happened when Carlos Baldomir knocked Gatti into retirement. Baldomir out-muscled Gatti and stopped him, producing deafening silence from a sellout crowd July 22.
Gatti had obtained the Baldomir fight following an intelligent boxing performance against Tomas Damgaard at the Hall in January. That battle, coming on the heels of a one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2005, had been billed as Gatti’s last stand. By passing that test, he gained the Baldomir fight.
How significant was Gatti’s Atlantic City run? He produced more than $15 million in gate receipts and countless additional post-fight revenues. Gatti’s impact enabled Boardwalk Hall to be named Billboard magazine’s top venue of its size, in the world. Small wonder that Gatti is in the Atlantic City Hall of Fame. Gatti was expected to retire after the Baldomir fight, but rumors persist about one more encore.
Switching Surf
An Atlantic City institution will unveil a new twist next year. The Surf will move to the Canadian-American League to obtain favorable economic conditions.
The league plays from Memorial Day to Labor Day, an ideal scenario for the local ball club that draws reasonably well during the summer months. The Surf has suffered from a heavy May and September schedule when a lack of tourists and school-night games hurt attendance. Plummeting revenues occurred despite an excellent product. Atlantic City won a championship in its first season and qualified for the postseason for the last three years.
Surf President Mark Schuster says the team will play a 92-game schedule instead of 140 from previous years. This eliminates 24 home dates from low-drawing months. It also severs the Surf from the protection of Long Island Ducks owner Frank Boulton, who has co-owned them. Boulton subsidized the Surf because it played in the same league as the Ducks, who often exceeded $4 million in operating profit. Atlantic City must prosper on its own, and probably will, with the realistic schedule.
Triple Bogey
Harry and Ruth Harrison ran the Shop Rite tournament like clockwork. It rose from being one of the LPGA’s smallest tour stops to one of its biggest. Its 2006 $225,000 top prize matched what the entire tournament paid out in its 1986 debut. The Classic became a weeklong array of championship golf, demonstrations by top-level chefs and numerous charities receiving funding.
In the past 21 years, the charities received $12 million. The economic impact on the area was far greater. That’s gone now. New LPGA leadership awarded Atlantic City’s date to a brand new tournament. It refused to honor a commitment to keep Atlantic City’s date through 2008 and offered an unacceptable alternate date in a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, according to Harrison.
Local officials essentially felt squeezed out by the new LPGA hierarchy. It is a sad development for golf fans and for the charities which depend upon this tournament for funding. Atlantic City, in general, absorbed some big hits in 2006. But the fundamental outlook remains strong.
