A.C.'s Boardwalk Hall bucks economic trends

ATLANTIC CITY - In this gambling mecca, where 2008 brought a record decline in profits for casinos and mass layoffs for casino workers, not all the news is grim.

The city's historic Boardwalk Hall raked in the biggest box-office profits for a midsize arena worldwide and set record concert attendance, according to leading trade publications.

The arena, once home of the Miss America Pageant, brought in top acts last year, including Elton John, Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Hannah Montana and Keith Urban. Popular shows such as American Idols Live Tour, Dancing with the Stars Tour and the Mummers String Band Show of Shows, were well attended.

"We are proud of Boardwalk Hall's popularity," Jeff Vasser, president of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, said in a statement.

Despite the shaky economy, Vasser said, 2009 could surpass last year's numbers.

"In 2009 and beyond, Boardwalk Hall will continue to enhance the city's reputation as an entertainment destination on the East Coast," Vasser said.

That may be an optimistic view, given the economic blows suffered in 2007 and 2008 by the city's previously $5 billion-a-year casino industry.

After nearly three decades of steady growth, Atlantic City's casino profits declined for a second time in the first 11 months of 2008, falling 6.7 percent to $4.2 billion, making it the worst profit margin for the seaside gambling resort. The previous year brought a 5.7 million decline - the first ever - as the number of annual visitors to Atlantic City dropped to 33.3 million in 2007 from 34.5 million in 2006, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

Casino staffing went from a record 51,560 employees in the summer of 1997 to a low of 39,137 last month.

Yet despite those declines, the 14,770-seat Boardwalk Hall - an oceanfront landmark that has survived the Great Depression and fierce Atlantic storms since it opened in 1929 - offers an economic silver lining.

According to Billboard and Venues Today, Boardwalk Hall achieved the top box-office gross among midsize arenas with a take of more than $26 million and attendance of some 299,000 people for 38 shows, including 11 sellout performances between Nov. 15, 2007, and Nov. 13, 2008.

Billboard ranked the hall first in the world, ahead of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore.

Venues Today ranked Boardwalk Hall No. 1 in North America and second in the world, trailing the Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia, with a $23.5 million gross between Oct. 16, 2007, and Oct. 15, 2008.

In addition to top name entertainment, the hall also booked a diverse group of international acts, including the Filipino game show WoWoWee, a Russian ice show, and Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra.

A number of premium sporting events were also held at Boardwalk Hall, including three major boxing bouts - Pavlik vs. Hopkins, Pavlik vs. Lockett, and cofeatured Cotto vs. Gomez/Margarito vs. Cintron - and basketball and wrestling championships.

A record number of concerts - three of which registered the hall's largest crowd ever - introduced the venue to "a whole new segment of the Atlantic City market by diversifying our bookings," said Greg Tesone, general manager of Boardwalk Hall and the Atlantic City Convention Center.

Officials would not disclose specific bookings, or anticipatory revenues for 2009.

Tesone and others also credited a three-year, $90 million renovation of the hall completed in 2001 as a major factor in allowing the hall to compete with other East Coast venues to attract top acts. The renovation recreated the original splendor of the Renaissance-style building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, while creating a modern entertainment venue.

"Looking into the future, there will be a lot more of the midsize, 6,000- to 10,000-seat arenas being constructed and having sellout crowds, as opposed to the 20,000-seat capacity venues that used to be the norm," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, a Fresno, Calif., trade magazine that is gospel on concert-tour-business news.

In Pollstar's survey, Boardwalk Hall ranked 46th worldwide against concert halls, stadiums, arenas, and other venues of all sizes, Bongiovanni said.

"That's a pretty good ranking for a venue its size, which I think points to the fact that we are already seeing more and more secondary markets with state-of-the-art facilities competing successfully with the bigger markets," he said.