Casino Connection Atlantic City

30 Years of Champs & Chumps

With a full card of legendary bouts, brawls and barnburners Atlantic City came out swinging and and became the boxing capital of the nation.

by Dave Bontempo

Casinos revolutionized the Atlantic City sports landscape and kept the world’s top boxers, promoters and high rollers cavorting down Pacific Avenue. The process created stars and launched a multimillion-dollar revenue stream. Throughout the ’80s, casinos made Atlantic City the unquestioned boxing capital of the world. It was the first city to use boxing as a means of identifying itself. Boxing underscored Atlantic City’s gaming challenge to Las Vegas, with casinos defining the terms. The sport ascended when properties wanted it to, retreated when the market matured and makes cameo re-entries whenever casinos deem fit.

Three stages mark the journey. During the euphoric ’80s, Atlantic City, worldwide television networks and boxing enriched each other. Peaks included a still-unmatched record of 136 fight cards in 1982, The Donald’s wallet and the emergence of heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

Then came the valleys. Stage two included the early ’90s drop-off caused by the economy, the nationwide spread of gaming and the closing of Boardwalk Hall for renovation.

The comeback—today’s phase—is marked by occasional strategic big events as boxing shares the stage with other sports. It’s been quite a ride, as boxing and gaming remain a formidable one-two financial punch.

Baptism

Ventnor-based entrepreneur Frank Gelb first tapped into the gold mine. Having promoted several pre-casino events, he secured a national television date and headlined fighters. He had a good feeling about the future of Atlantic City boxing when he entered the office of Tibor Rudas, Resorts’ entertainment head, in the early 1980s.

“I had something I thought he would kill for, and he threw me out,” Gelb recalls. “He did not want boxing in his showroom. Fortunately, he came around.”

Atlantic City entered the boxing era by strategically branding itself, often paying six figures for what was called a “site fee.” Nationally televised bouts offered subliminal advertising via ring posts, strategically placed banners and datelines.

Boxing benefited from the situation. Suddenly, money existed for top fights. Early stars included Matthew Saad Muhammad, Michael Spinks, Tim Witherspoon and Jeff Chandler. Their title bouts were significant because boxing only had two sanctioning bodies: the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council. That figure would later balloon to nearly 10.

While the money flowed, every casino used boxing to recruit customers. The Tropicana unfurled an unprecedented weekly Tuesday night boxing card that brought Pennsylvania bus groups into town for an evening of fights and casino play. The gambit worked for more than three years before it finally burned out.

Bally’s proved that less is more by making excellent buying decisions. Playboy enjoyed some success, but gamblers left the fight and took elevators to the street without crossing the gaming floor. The casino’s poor design, with entertainment in one building and gaming in another, hampered post-fight play and later forced the casino out of business.

The Sands, meanwhile, created its “casino heroes.” Trenton lightweight Ken Bogner and Philadelphia middleweight Frank “The Animal” Fletcher nearly took the roof off the Copa Room with their exciting bouts. Fight fans jammed the 850-seat theater, and the fighters became synonymous both with Atlantic City and the casino.

Fletcher was one of the city’s early characters. He would walk the streets of Philadelphia at 2 a.m., daring people to steal the middleweight title belt he openly paraded. Fletcher’s preference for AC was indelibly impressed on ringside doctors one night in Las Vegas. He was knocked out cold by Juan Roldan and brought to consciousness by the physicians. They asked him the standard question:” Where are you?”

“At The Sands,” he answered. “In Atlantic City.”

Special Circumstances

Tommy Hearns ushered in Atlantic City’s tent era at Caesars, in 1983. Larry Holmes followed a couple months later by opposing Scott Frank under the big top at Harrah’s.

During this heyday, ESPN conducted nearly 30 shows per year here. NBC, CBS and ABC were not to be outdone. During the 1982 NFL strike, for example, CBS and NBC televised bouts from Atlantic City at the same time. It was an unprecedented move that’s never been repeated.

Casinos, networks, fighters and promoters enjoyed one of the greatest decades in boxing history. It peaked with the emergence of a young Tyson, who became a fixture. As Tyson’s bouts got bigger, so did the showrooms he filled. Finally, in 1988, he produced a signature event, “Once And For All” against Michael Spinks. Atlantic City was electric with the presence of celebrities, movie stars and well-dressed wannabes. Trump shattered boxing’s all-time record by paying $12 million for the site fee. The fighters split $32 million. Fans paid exorbitant ticket prices. And the property received substantial high-end play.

The era began winding down in 1991 as Evander Holyfield fought George Foreman. Amid sagging ticket sales, Trump publicly renegotiated his deal with promoters. Though the bout occurred, Trump’s public spat forecast the end of Atlantic City largesse.

“I’m tired of being the one taking all the risk,” he said afterward. “Other people have to step up.”

The pay formula had produced high risk for Trump and high reward for nearby properties. While he was on the hook for millions, they simply needed to secure seats for premium players. Other properties obtained a similar bang for much less buck. When Trump bowed out, Atlantic City marked the end of its honeymoon.

Part Two

Atlantic City produced more than 800 bouts in the ’80s, but the glory era ended. One major factor was the recession, which crippled high rollers. Some individual gamblers had been responsible for an entire fight card coming to Atlantic City. The decline in some major players curbed the fight scene.

So did the spread of gambling with locations like Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun and the Mississippi casinos. Like Atlantic City, they learned that paying for fight cards ensured national and worldwide publicity and shielded the event from normal accounting assessments.

But that changed as the bean counters played a more prominent role. Six-figure site fees shriveled to “four-wall” deals, in which the property furnished only the room to promoters.

Atlantic City managed its share of strong fight cards in the ’90s and tried different partnership remedies. It formed a coalition of properties to buy fights for the city. The United Nations-style approach worked occasionally, but would not become a long-term fit. As the city hit a slowdown, boxing action was reduced.

Action slowed further when Boardwalk Hall closed for renovations. When the Hall reopened, so did the eyes of gaming executives.

Arturo and the A-10

One of them was Ken Condon, who had worked his way up to become the chief executive at Bally’s. In 2002, he struck oil by landing the second Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward bout. The Boardwalk Hall blockbuster began a string of nine sellouts.

Gatti, who was raised in Montreal but lived in Jersey City, literally filled the hall. Twice a year, Condon could count on a financial blockbuster via “The Human Highlight Reel.” Gatti had been involved in several of boxing’s Fights of the Year and he put Atlantic City on the new-millennium map. He established a record of more than $5 million gross receipts for his 2005 effort against Floyd Mayweather. Gatti also helped Boardwalk Hall become the highest-grossing venue of its size in the world, according to Billboard magazine.

Condon keeps the formula going today. As a consultant, he’s delivered three strong AC fight cards at Bally’s and the Hall this year. The presence of Borgata, the Walk, the Quarter and the Pier at Caesars have helped launched another heyday. Money abounds for sports.

Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority chief Jeff Vasser has added his own chapter to this story. He brought in the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball tournament, which is growing into a weeklong getaway for gamblers up and down the East Coast.

The beat goes on. Twenty-seven years after saying “Atlantic City is pregnant with potential,” Don King has a street named for him here. And the city is pregnant with potential yet again.

Atlantic City’s Sports Top 10

• Tyson-Spinks. June 27, 1988. The fight set an all-time record for purses split, $32 million, and a site fee of $12 million paid by Donald Trump. It was the high-water mark of the euphoric ’80s. This was the first premier boxing card Las Vegas lost to Atlantic City.

• Holyfield-Foreman. April 19, 1991. Evander Holyfield’s victory over George Foreman produced two substantial results. It set a pay-per-view record of 1.4 million homes (since broken) and marked the end of Atlantic City’s first era. Donald Trump hereafter pledged to avoid taking a multimillion-dollar risk alone.

• Gatti-Ward II. November 23, 2002. This bout launched the Ken Condon-Arturo Gatti championship tandem in Atlantic City and began a string of nine consecutive Boardwalk Hall sellouts in five years.

• Gatti-Mayweather. June 26, 2005. The fight set an Atlantic City non-heavyweight title fight record of more than $5 million gate receipts. It nearly tripled the previous mark held by Gatti.

• Boardwalk Hall. Because of Gatti and concerts, the Hall received several awards from Billboard magazine for grossing the largest amount of business for any arena of its size in the entire world.

• Casino Respirator. Thanks to the CRDA and a sweetheart lease provided by the casino industry, the Atlantic City Surf remains in town for its 11th season, even though no minor league franchise has ever turned a profit in Atlantic City. Without casino involvement, a string of franchises perished. They included the Seagulls and Hi-Rollers (basketball), the Bullies (hockey), the Marathon (running) and the Around-the-Island Swim.

• Recreational Golf. Once a nuisance to casino officials, it has evolved into a major amenity. High-level area courses keep major players entertained. As a full-circle testament to this philosophy, Harrah’s owns the fabled Atlantic City Country Club.

• Professional Golf. The Shop Rite Classic was a great Ladies Professional Golf Association tournament held here from 1986 until politics killed it in 2006. Casinos sponsored parties and surrounding events for the Classic.

• Unique Events. The Atlantic City Offshore Powerboat Race came here in 1993. Donald Trump also sponsored his own powerboat extravaganza. Both events attracted the industry’s top talent, but like the Island Swim and Marathon, they were difficult for the public to follow. One the public embraces but casinos treat with kid gloves is the state high-school wrestling championships. They are held in the Hall each March. Casinos benefit via the adults, but avoid under-age gamblers.

• Atlantic 10. Big-time basketball now thrives in Atlantic City. The A-10 has produced good crowds here the last two years. For the price of Miss America, it attracts alumni and fans from throughout the Eastern seaboard. A 2006 special December trial game between Temple and Cincinnati in AC proved that Philly teams would bring crowds here.