The top 10 finalists pose in their evening gowns during the 2012 Miss USA pageant, Sunday, June 3, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
It looks like Miss USA will be crowned in Baton Rouge this year. A number of rooms at L'Auberge Casino and Hotel have been blocked out for the pageant between May 25 and June 9, 2014, which was made apparent after a call to the hotel's reservation desk confirmed the dates.
City and state officials are expected to announce March 13 "that Baton Rouge will host a major live entertainment event this year," according to a press release. Those officials, however, stayed mum when a comment was requested on the room reservations.
A "special announcement ... about the 2014 Miss USA competition" is also expected from Donald Trump, who operates the event as a co-venture with NBC Universal, and current Miss USA Erin Brady on the Today Show at 7:30 a.m. CST on March 13.
Neither representatives with the Lieutenant Governor's office, Visit Baton Rouge nor L'Auberge would comment, instead deferring to tomorrow's press conference.
"Everyone will just have to come to the press conference tomorrow morning," said Katie Guasco, a press representative with Visit Baton Rouge.
Baton Rouge is apparently not the first city to have been considered for the 2014 pageant. Doral, Florida, was a previous choice according to the Miami Herald, but the Doral City Council did not approve a resolution to allow that city's manager to work with pageant organizers to produce the event.
A pageant blogger posted the room booking information on his Facebook page earlier today (March 12), theorizing that would place the pageant date on June 8, 2014.
The Miss USA pageant would be no newcomer to Louisiana. It was previously held in Shreveport in 1997 and 1998, according to the pageant website.
The televised coverage of Miss USA in 2013 garnered 4.6 million viewers.
Source: Nola.com, March 12, 2014