2019 Chicago National: Best attendance since 1991 in Anaheim

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Chicago doesn't have union fees? That's a big change from when I used to be involved with events there.

[Exhibitman]

At the National this year I spent a good deal of time at the tables at the far side and back of the hall where the newer dealers are relegated by the priority system. They mostly have modern cards and lower cost cards. One of them told me that the dealers in that end of the room call the front of the room where the old guard vintage card dealers are "The Dead Zone" because they have comparatively low traffic and always look so depressed and miserable. I have to agree. At times you could fire a shotgun down some of the rows at the front of the hall and barely hit anyone, but I had to go toe to toe to get into some of the booths at the back. Not a problem: modern collecting has always been the gateway to vintage. When the newbies get tired of picking up Mike Trout cards because he's the next Mantle, they will start looking at Mantle cards, and so on down to the earliest cards.

[Promethius88]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

At the National this year I spent a good deal of time at the tables at the far side and back of the hall where the newer dealers are relegated by the priority system. They mostly have modern cards and lower cost cards. One of them told me that the dealers in that end of the room call the front of the room where the old guard vintage card dealers are "The Dead Zone" because they have comparatively low traffic and always look so depressed and miserable. I have to agree. At times you could fire a shotgun down some of the rows at the front of the hall and barely hit anyone, but I had to go toe to toe to get into some of the booths at the back. Not a problem: modern collecting has always been the gateway to vintage. When the newbies get tired of picking up Mike Trout cards because he's the next Mantle, they will start looking at Mantle cards, and so on down to the earliest cards.

I was there Thursday thru early Saturday afternoon and I had a completely opposite experience. I found the rows in the front very busy at the times I was there. Had to wait a lot of the time to ask to look at something. Took much longer to get thru the rows going to the corporate rows in the middle than it did to go thru those back rows. Admittedly, I wasn't looking for newer stuff and may have been able to pass by more tables back there but I didn't find the rows any more crowded than in the front.
Overall it seemed that there was a lot of traffic and that dealers were busy actually selling.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Chicago doesn't have union fees? That's a big change from when I used to be involved with events there.

Scott,

I'm not sure it was the union fees per se. I vaguely remember Mike Berkus saying a few years back at one of the Net54 dinners that the dealers wanted to have the ability to load/unload their own items and not be 'forced' to turn over that responsibility to a third party (ie union worker). So there still may be 'fees' paid. Again, from memory so I could be wrong. Other site considerations included enough contiguous floor space, able to reserve years in advance AND the the first week (or partial week) in August, et al.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by tschock

Scott,

I'm not sure it was the union fees per se. I vaguely remember Mike Berkus saying a few years back at one of the Net54 dinners that the dealers wanted to have the ability to load/unload their own items and not be 'forced' to turn over that responsibility to a third party (ie union worker). So there still may be 'fees' paid. Again, from memory so I could be wrong. Other site considerations included enough contiguous floor space, able to reserve years in advance AND the the first week (or partial week) in August, et al.

That's exactly what I was referring to.