Back in the 1990s, the owners of a proposed minor league sports team approached Atlantic City, asking to bring an affiliated team to town. The story, widely circulated at the time, was that most city council members were convinced these investors wanted a financial contribution. So the majority voted no. The owners went to Trenton, where the team now flourishes as the Trenton Thunder, an affiliate of the New York Yankees.
Alas, when Atlantic City government came to its senses, Major League Baseball rules had changed. Post-Thunder rules barred an affiliated team in any county that abutted a city where a major league team played.
Atlantic County abuts Camden County, which abuts Philadelphia. Sorry, Atlantic City.
So the city secured an independent team, the Surf, which lasted from 1998 to 2008 before folding, the most successful pro team in the city’s history. Atlantic City also became home to the Boardwalk Bullies ice hockey team, the Seagulls basketball team, and this past year, the Blackjacks of the Arena Football League.
Lack of attendance eventually doomed the first three teams. In the case of the Blackjacks, the league failed. It was forced to declare bankruptcy in the wake of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by a Pittsburgh-based insurance carrier, which had provided workers’ compensation coverage for the league between 2009 and 2012.
The league considered various scenarios to try to keep afloat, wrote Press of Atlantic City columnist Dave Weinberg. One involved turning it into a traveling league, in which teams would practice at a central location, then play games in Las Vegas and Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. But the Atlantic City end would have failed.
“While the Blackjacks drew decent crowds in their first season, fans wouldn’t give up a beach day or casino night to watch random teams that had no ties to the community,” Weinberg said.
The shore resort seems doomed when it comes to pro teams.
There are two angles to consider when assessing the success or failure of Atlantic City sports teams, said Rummy Pandit, executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University.
“First, it’s a matter of population. Atlantic City itself has a relatively small year-round residential population with sometimes limited disposable income to be spent on entertainment, such as attending a sporting event,” Pandit said. “Second, it’s a function of geography. Whereas inland teams may draw an audience from a 360-degree radius, coastal teams, bordered by the ocean on one side, may only be able to tap into an audience from a 180-degree radius.”
Still, the AFL had a good run before Atlantic City came along. In its 32-year history, the league helped more than a few players reach the top levels of the sport, Weinberg said. An unheralded quarterback named Kurt Warner spent three seasons with the Iowa Barnstormers in the mid-90s before signing on with the St. Louis Rams. “Before he flopped as Washington Redskins coach, Jay Gruden was AFL MVP in 1992 and led the Tampa Bay Storm to four ArenaBowl titles as their quarterback,” he said.
Thing is, Atlantic City became arguably the most popular stop in the league, Weinberg wrote.
AFL Commissioner Randall Boe said, “We’re all disappointed that we couldn’t find a way forward, and we wanted to thank our fans, our players, coaches, everyone who loved the Arena Football League. We all love the game and tried very hard to make it successful, but we simply weren’t able to raise the capital necessary to grow the league, resolve the substantial legacy liabilities and make it financially viable.”
But perhaps there’s a brighter future ahead.
Population and geography are not insurmountable obstacles, Pandit said. “If Atlantic City continues diversifying its economy and bringing new employers into the area we should expect the year-round residential population, and audiences for sports teams, to increase.”
Moreover, as Atlantic City expands its tourism season beyond the peak summer months, there will be greater synergy between sporting events, often played from fall through the spring, and activities in the resort, he said.
Meantime, Weinberg wrote, “The cool Blackjack jerseys are probably in a storage shed somewhere, along with the Atlantic City Surf caps with waves on the front, the Boardwalk Bullies shirts with the skating bulldog logo and the Seagulls tank tops that featured the unofficial state bird and a basketball.”
