[QUOTE=tbob;740984]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Klein
Rich- You might ask Tom B. he wrote that not me.
Tbob
P.S. I do know where dearth means BTW  |
All you T.B. types sound alike to me -- sorry about that -- that's way I should not become the Barry S English Prof on this board
And for Frank A; I do understand and sympathize with your points; when I started this thread -- I understood there are no perfect solutions but with my experience in the hobby I just wanted to make a few points. We've had some twists and turns and kept this mostly positive and recieved some fantastic comments from Mike B about what is needed to run a National (Plus he's offered you a full pass for next year -- as long as you get to Baltimore
)
OK; let me conclude for now with a few pts
1) My instinct from walking around the area of the Baltimore Convention Center is that this is a very solid location although it will cost the promoters a few more sheckels than some of the other venues. They will do a good job promoting the show locally for the National is both a LOCAL and a NATIONAL show. When I did the Favorite Player Contest for BHN at the 1988 Atlantic City National and talked to Frank Barning later, he told me that the National was a bigger, better and wider local show. The National is still exactly that, with great dealers; a nice flock of collectors and hopefully a good regional crowd to full out the arena.
2) My biggest issues are something the promoters are very aware of; which is the dearth of people who attend and stay on Sunday. That, includes the dealers -- which is why I suggested varied admission pricing based on what day/days you came to the show, how many hours you wanted to be there, etc. They want Sunday to be better; I want Sunday to be better,. etc.
3) I also wanted to focus on what we can change. We can not change the parking fees to attend so guess what; I did not bring that up. I want us to focus on what we can suggest on collectors/dealers; not what we can't suggest.
You realize we've drawn over 7K views to this thread -- so as Mike B has said; not only have the posters shown passion but also the lurkers are very interested.
4) Let's keep this courteous. Some of the worst nights of my life have been spent in the pre-1994 National Business Meeting. For those of you who remember those; they had a tendency to end about 2 AM. I really don't want to return to those days folks. Mike deserves respect for making the statements he does on this board.
5) I am very much pro-National and pro shows. There is something special about seeing the cards before you buy/sell them!
Anyway -- thanks to everyone who posted/read or learned a lot about our hobby. I learned a lot and I thought I understood about the mechanics of the National -- and there is so much more to learn.
Regards
Rich