A Metro Council agenda space request submitted by Mayor Kip Holden’s office this morning asking for funding to be allocated for the Miss USA pageant set off a flurry of speculation among local media outlets that Baton Rouge will once again host the event later this year. However, a spokesman for the mayor says no deal has been finalized to bring the pageant back.
Scott Dyer says in an email to Daily Report that “it is still very much a work in progress.” He adds the agenda space request—which asks the council to appropriate $230,000 for expenses related to the 2015 pageant and give Holden authority to execute any agreements associated with the event—has been submitted “to help bring the pageant to Baton Rouge.”
Dyer says Holden isn’t saying anything further about the agenda space request or possible negotiations with pageant officials, who brought the event to Baton Rouge for the first time last year. Visit Baton Rouge President and CEO Paul Arrigo also declines to discuss any negotiations, or even confirm they’re taking place.
“We do not comment on any events or programs that we may or may not be working on because of the competitive nature of our business,” Arrigo says.
A New York-based spokesperson for the Miss USA pageant could not provide a comment as of this afternoon’s deadline on when an official announcement on the host city for this year’s event will take place. Dates for this year’s pageant also have yet to be set.
Holden and local tourism officials touted last year’s event as a major success, shining an international spotlight on Baton Rouge. The event took place before a sold out Baton Rouge River Center crowd and was aired live on NBC. About 70 countries saw the broadcast, which included many flattering shots of Baton Rouge.
The agenda space request by Holden will be introduced as the council’s next meeting on Wednesday, but it likely will not come up for a vote before its meeting on April 8.
—Steve Sanoski
