Officially, every American Idol winner will walk away from the show with a guaranteed $1 million recording contract. Unofficially, the champion is virtually guaranteed a secondary prize -- a million bucks worth of experience headlining in an Atlantic City casino showroom.
Atlantic City has become a proving ground for AI winners. And now you can add Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood to the list of Idol winners who'll top the bill in a showroom here.
The 24-year-old country music cutie, who's amassed more music industry honors than any other AI winner, will headline Caesars Atlantic City May 25-26. What's more, she'll also have the honor of re-christening the Circus Maximus Theater, which is nearing the end of a $9.5 million facelift.
"Ever since we began the renovations [in January], we've been looking for a major act to be the first one to play the new room," said Bill Borenstein, regional entertainment director for Harrah's Entertainment's four Atlantic City properties.
They don't come any more major than Underwood, who's had the hottest streak of any AI winner. In the past year, she's won two Grammys, five Billboard Music Awards, an American Music Award and two weeks ago walked away with CMT's Video of the Year honor.
Her debut album, Some Hearts, sold more than five million units, making it quintuple platinum and the fastest-selling debut album in country music history.
Underwood will be the first of three of country music's top female artists to headline Caesars this spring and early summer. Reba McEntire has been signed for June 29-30 and Gretchen Wilson plays a one-night stand. July 7.
Former disco diva Donna Summer headlines July 27-28 and Tony Bennett -- the 80-year-old Energizer bunny of popular music -- sings for his supper Aug. 24-25. Other acts are expected to be announced later.
When the curtain rises on Caesars' spruced up showroom, guests will find 1,500 theater-style seats in a configuration not unlike what its parent company did to the former Broadway by the Bay Theater at Harrah's Atlantic City, which was expanded from 850 seats to 1,230. The Caesars showroom will also be getting a new sound system as part of the first makeover since Joan Rivers opened the nightclub in May 1985.
Playing a room this size will be a valuable learning experience for Underwood, since most AI contestants have little or no experience working in this environment.
When Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken made his Atlantic City debut at Caesars in July 2004, he said it was the first time he'd ever played a traditional nightclub. In fact, his Caesars engagement was the first time he'd ever set foot in a casino.
"Before Idol, I had done a lot of [community] theater, that sort of thing, but I've never been in a nightclub before to even see a show let alone sing in one," Aiken told me before his Caesars gig. "You do Idol and you're working in front of thousands of people [in the Kodak Theater]."
After winning Idol, the top 10 finalists usually embark on concert tour that plays arenas of up to 20,000 people.
"So you never really get a chance to play the smaller rooms, and I think these [casino showrooms] are gonna be fun," he added. "You can see the people you're singing to.
Since the AI phenomenon began in 2002, every winner has found an Atlantic City gig. Last season's victor, Taylor Hicks, played Borgata two weeks ago, and Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino was Jamie Foxx's opening act at Borgata in January.
In 2009, the American Idols Tour played at Boardwalk Hall, a 12,000-seat venue. This year, the show is taking place at the much smaller Mark G. Etess Arena at the Trump Taj Mahal this Saturday.
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