I live in Indiana, so Chicago and Cleveland are close.
I went to Chicago last year, and as a guy who drives in and spends one day and leaves, Cleveland is a much better alternative. I was in Chicago last year on a Thursday, Cleveland this year on Friday.
It's much easier to drive into the Cleveland IX than Rosemont. Chicago traffic at 9:00 A.M. is just not worth it. Chicago traffic at 6:00 is just not worth it. I still remember the drive back, a bad accident on 94 south had traffic completely stopped on Thursday, I managed to get off and take an alternate route that added 50 miles to the trip, but at least I didn't spent 3 hours not moving.
I took $700 to spend, I'm guessing that I'm within range of what the majority of people walking around had to spend. I spent most of it.
My guess is way more "average joe's" show up at a National, than guys looking to spend $10K. I saw a lot more "action" at tables with bargain boxes than high end PSA graded stuff. There were a lot of set collectors scrounging through commons boxes filling out sets.
There were a lot of friendly dealers, there were a lot of un friendly dealers. I spent all my money with friendly dealers who would chit chat for a while.
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