Future National Locations - Same Old Story

[Brian Van Horn]

Well, with Cleveland, it would be a new building since they closed the one that the national was held and removed the Ferris wheel.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

Well, with Cleveland, it would be a new building since they closed the one that the national was held and removed the Ferris wheel.

No, same building, they're just getting rid of the ferris wheel.

FYI - The ferris wheel was there for roughly 30+ or so years as part of the annual IX Indoor Amusement Park that went on inside the building. It stopped with the Covid pandemic starting in 2020. There is talk of bringing the amusement park back, starting in 2023, but for now the ferris wheel is to be removed as part of renovations being made to the building.

[Exhibitman]

They should replace it with a batting arcade.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

They should replace it with a batting arcade.

Not a bad idea.......and actually quite feasible. The room at the IX Center is immense, and way bigger than any other venue I'm aware of that has ever hosted the National. Anyone who ever attended the National while in Cleveland may remember that the wall opposite to the wall along which all the restaurant/food stands are situated isn't a wall at all, it is a curtain. That is because it simply divides the floor of the IX Center so attendees don't see all the unused space. There should be more than enough room to bring in the equipment needed to set up batting cages if they so desired, and they could likely put in a softball hitting cage/area beside it as well.

In fact, if they wanted to, there is no telling how much bigger and how many more dealers they could easily accommodate at a Cleveland based National if they really wanted to expand it, and that's not even counting the lower floor levels. I think the problem is though, once you do that you can't automatically have all the dealers come back to the following year's National if held anywhere else......there isn't enough room. LOL