Miss USA Won't Be Crowned In Doral After All; City Drama To Blame
DORAL (CBSMiami) - Donald Trump may have purchased a hotel in Doral, but he won't be bringing his Miss USA pageant to the city as some community leaders had originally hoped.
City Manager Joe Carollo confirmed the beauty pageant will not come to Doral next year.
"I put in so many hours of my own time to make this happen," Carollo told CBS4's Lauren Pastrana. "It's very disappointing. This was not just going to be a big event for Doral, but frankly, for greater Miami."
Carollo and members of the city council were informed Friday of the decision.
However, by 4:30 p.m. Friday, Doral Mayor Luigi Boria said he hadn't yet received official word from Trump, who is currently in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.
"If he says 'no' (to Doral hosting the pageant), it's because he feels like the city isn't ready right now," Boria told Pastrana.
Boria recently voted against a resolution to allow Carollo to keep pursuing pageant.
"It's sad that they try to politicize an event like this and try to damage our city," Boria said.
Tensions have been high between the mayor and the city manager lately.
An attempt by Boria to have Carollo terminated was squashed by a council vote in October.
One of the issues they sparred over included Carollo's trip to Las Vegas to try to lure the pageant to Miami.
"You want to avoid awkward complications like that," Ed Russo, project consultant for the Trump Organization, told our news partners at the Miami Herald. "It's going to return to Las Vegas because of the lack of support from the mayor."
The Miss USA pageant is expected to be held in Las Vegas, though a formal announcement is due after the Miss Universe pageant this weekend, The Herald reported.
"The City of Doral and Great Miami is losing millions of dollars" by not hosting the event, Carollo said. "Viewership across the US was going to be huge.
Mayor Boria said other big events in the city, like the PGA tour, will more than make up for that.
The WGC-Cadillac Championship will be played at Trump National Doral in March.
The Miss USA pageant has not be held in South Florida since 1986.
