Show Broke Attendance Record Last Year
Editor’s note: This is the 10th story in a series to help collectors prepare for the 44th annual National Sports Collectors Convention, which will be held in Cleveland from July 24 to 28. We will introduce a new topic each week leading up to the show.
Today, we look at what the atmosphere and crowd could be like at this year’s National after a record-breaking event in 2023. Don’t miss Wednesday’s story, where we discuss the state of the hobby leading into the convention and a popular event that expands at The National.
It’s almost time.
When the National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) wraps up each year, collectors are already counting down the days until the next big show. This year’s edition in Cleveland is just two days away.
Longtime industry folks are anticipating a memorable event at which collectors will travel in droves to the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“I’m expecting people to have fun and a great experience. We want improvement every year,” NSCC Board of Directors President Al Durso told Topps RIPPED. “It’s all about fun and customer experience for me. The dealers want to make money, but the customers want to be entertained, have a great experience, and be able to trade, buy, and sell. The autograph lineup is phenomenal. It’s the best I’ve seen.”
This will be the 44th National and the eighth time it’s been held in Cleveland. The last was in 2018, before the I-X Center was shut down during the pandemic.
Last year’s show in Rosemont, Illinois, produced a record crowd of about 100,000 attendees and featured the largest show floor in the event’s history, at 600,000 square feet.
According to Durso, ticket sales have been steady, with all levels of VIP tickets being sold out. Just 10 days before the show’s start, general admission ticket sales are slightly ahead of last year’s pace.
“I think there’s going to be tremendous crowds,” Robert Edward Auctions President Brian Dwyer said. “I think the Midwest venues have always drawn well in our hobby. I’m expecting there to be a lot of promotion at an individual company level, as well as within the hobby. There are a lot of forces within the hobby right now that want to amplify what we’re doing here. I’m excited to see how that gets done.”
This year’s National will have 623 dealer booths, up from 505 six years ago in Cleveland. The show floor will be 500,000 square feet.
Improvements All Around at This Year’s NSCC
The layout for the 2024 edition of the biggest card show in the world will look different. Dealer booths that sell similar products and cards—modern dealers will be lumped together, and vintage dealers will be in a different area—making it easier for collectors.
“I think it’s a positive thing,” Mascot CEO Ezra Levine said. “The one knock against last year’s show was that it was really spread out. It was hard for people to find inventory and hard for people to find their footing.
“Having more organization and more logic to the show floor will only help collectors find what they’re looking for, and it will only help new attendees who are getting into it for the first time make sense of the show floor.”
This year’s National is being run by a new show promoters for the first time in nearly two decades. SMI LLC, run by John Broggi and Dan Berkus, was in charge of The National since 2006. Two years ago, the NSCC Board of Directors awarded the show contract to JBJ Corporation, consisting of longtime card/memorabilia dealers Joe Drelich, Brian Coppola, and Jim Ryan.
The change in leadership has made way for some improvements with The National. After last year’s issues with the air conditioning not working at the show, the new promoters made it a major focus to ensure that won’t be a problem this year. Also, sketchy internet service at the last few Nationals has made it tough for some dealers to secure credit card transactions, and collectors and dealers have difficulty looking up comps on cards.
“I’m expecting a great show,” Levine said. “I’m expecting every company to put their best foot forward, every company to be releasing a new product, every collector to come with their best inventory. I’m expecting a lot of events. I’m expecting a lot of community events, cocktail hours, parties, new releases, big specials, promotions. This really is the time that every company kind of circles as, hey, we’ve got to do something big for The National. We’ve got to put our best foot forward. We have to stand out in a crowd of other people who are trying to put their best foot forward.”
