Caesars Entertainment eastern division president Don Marrandino says it's too expensive to book shows at Boardwalk Hall.
Don Marrandino
ATLANTIC CITY — Will Caesars stop booking shows at Boardwalk Hall in 2012?
Ever since he returned to his Atlantic City roots more than two years ago, Don Marrandino has been an outspoken critic of the costs of doing business at Boardwalk Hall.
Other community and business leaders have quietly complained about the cost-prohibitive union contracts at the hall over the years. But now, the eastern division president of global gaming giant Caesars Entertainment is turning up the heat.
He’s threatening to pull his company’s shows and sporting events out of the building.
“The only way you can fix it is not to book shows [at Boardwalk Hall], and I’m getting close to that point,” he said bluntly during a recent interview. “I get on my soap box every time I talk about ... the union contracts and how unreasonable they are there. If they were reasonable, we would be able to afford to do more shows there.”
After the former Convention Hall underwent a $90 million renovation 11 years ago, Caesars Entertainment — which owns Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort, Showboat and Bally’s — has been the most frequent tenant of the venue, which contains a 12,500-seat arena and a 3,500-seat ballroom.
The company has regularly presented some of the biggest concerts the city has ever seen by world-class artists ranging from Paul McCartney to Barbra Streisand and sporting events including championship boxing matches, all-star tennis tournaments and minor league hockey games. Last year alone, Caesars Entertainment presented more than a dozen boxing matches, shows and concerts at Boardwalk Hall.
Four fights were televised on HBO, two on Showtime and two figure-skating tribute shows aired on NBC.
“It was like a big commercial for Atlantic City,” said Marrandino, 52, who was born in Atlantic City and spent the first decade of his casino career working on the Boardwalk before moving to Las Vegas, where he spent 20 years climbing the corporate casino ladder.
Last year, the owner of the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils did five minor league hockey games in the hall and complained about the union fees.
“He said it was more economical to do hockey in New York than it is in Atlantic City,” Marrandino said.
“That’s a big problem.”
Caesars Entertainment has already committed to presenting the American Hockey League all-star game in Boardwalk Hall on Jan. 30, which Marrandino believes will attract between 7,000 and 8,000 to town on a Monday night. And two weeks ago, the company announced a March 29 Boardwalk Hall concert by Van Halen.
Beyond that, Marrandino won’t say whether he’s committed to any more shows at the hall. The union situation there needs to be addressed immediately, he said, because the ramifications of his company pulling out of the venue would be serious.
Anyone looking for concrete results from Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford’s A.C. Strategic Planning Committee will just have to take a gander at the sky over the city Boardwalk this July 4 weekend.
While many women might share horror stories of their husbands attempting to cook dinner, that will hardly be the case at the ninth annual Men R Cookin’ event. These guys know their way around a kitchen, and will prove it Thursday, Feb. 25, from 6-9pm at the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City (BGCAC). Around 70 men — some professional chefs, others regular joes sharing certain family favorites — will present a wide array of appetizers, entrees and desserts for a $50-per-person fee that includes valet parking. There will also be gourmet coffees, teas and “frothy confections,” and all proceeds will benefit the BGCAC, located at 317 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in A.C. “Everyone does a superb job, and it’s just a good night of community and business members getting together under one room for a really great event,” says BGCAC staff member Vanessa...
The ice-skating event is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 11, and will bring many of the best American figure skaters in the world into Boardwalk Hall. Among the confirmed participants are Evan Lysacek, Sasha Cohen Sarah Hughes, Nancy Kerrigan and Brian Boitano.
The economy continues to stumble along and casinos throughout the Northeast are struggling with falling revenues, cutting their budgets and trying to reinvent themselves in the eye of their customers. Meanwhile, new competition continues to spring up in ...
'It’s very simple,' offers one Atlantic City casino executive. 'We’ve got [entertainment], and they don’t, at least not on the scale that we can offer.'
“It was like, ‘Oh my god, we might lost $20,000 or $30,000 on an event.’ Well, you might lose hundreds of millions of dollars if this town just continues to play defense. And we’re trying to play offense. [The city] has already lost a billion dollars it can never get back.”
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1. Anonymous said... on Jan 16, 2012 at 08:23PM
“Wake up call time: AC's various entities need to work TOGETHER and not AGAINST each other - for the good of the whole, which will reap goodness on each & everybody. The bottom line of the city is more important especially now at this current time, than individual bottom lines. The city needs to propel itself upward but only can if everbody is on the same page....I agree that somethng needs to be done with regard to the ludicrous high costs of doing business in Atlantic City which TURN AWAY possible conventioneers. People, don't you get it? Make it affordable and they will COME!!!! (in droves)”
2. Anonymous said... on Jan 23, 2012 at 06:28AM
“I have heard time and again about the high cost of booking Boardwalk hall. The building is owned by the state, and the CRDA and state put 91 million in to rehabbing the building. Why doesn't a reporter do a price comparison between Boardwalk hall and the NYC and Philly markets? How can anyone tell if union wages are out of line without some sort of comparison? If promotors can guarantee a certain number of dates, I'm sure the unions would look at changing work rules and wages. But, without real numbers how xan anyone decide the union and building fees are unfair?”