Fanatics Creating Their Own Shows, How Does This Effect The Future of The Hobby?

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

I hope they will bring shows to cities which don’t already have shows regularly in place. Not too mention the National hasn’t been run efficiently IMO in how many years? . They just go to two Northern cities over and over and then the hard to get to Atlantic City ever so often. How can there be a list of over 400 dealers wanting to get a table this year???? I hope they hear the music and make some changes.

Assuming you meant there are 400 dealers wanting a table who can't get one, no wonder Fanatics wants in on that action! As for all the major changes in the hobby recently, from the influx of the hordes of younger collectors bidding up the shiny stuff to the passing of icons like Bill Huggins and Mark Jordan, it definitely feels like a changing of the guard and generations is proceeding apace. The first time I felt that was at a Richmond Tuff Stuff show about 30 years ago, when there was a separate Beanie Baby room and a young dealer next to me with nothing but brand new stuff who was doing great business selling boxes of cards to kids who would then go to a corner of the room, sit down and tear through the packs to find refractors and whatnot to sell back to the same dealer, leaving thousands of worthless cards on the floor! Man, I thought, those guys--the dealer and his customers both--really have it going, while I was humping my old stuff from show to show desperately hoping to leave with a wad big enough to make it worthwhile. But I'm 77 now, and as with so many other areas of life, I feel like I've had my time in the hobby, loved it, and hope the newer generations enjoy their time as much as I did mine. As my hero Bob Dylan wrote: "Everything passes, everything changes, just do what you think you should do."