National location in 2024 and future

[Brian Van Horn]

It has been since 2012 the National was in Baltimore. It has rotated in the three cities mentioned since then. Still, with the Cleveland building closed at the airport and the Ferris Wheel removed, the rotation is simply Atlantic City one year and Chicago another. Man, that puts miles on the car.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

It has been since 2012 the National was in Baltimore. It has rotated in the three cities mentioned since then. Still, with the Cleveland building closed at the airport and the Ferris Wheel removed, the rotation is simply Atlantic City one year and Chicago another. Man, that puts miles on the car.

From what I've read -- the Convention Center downtown is where the NSCC will be held in Cleveland but if the I/X Center is needed, it is available

https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the...center-is-back

Regards
Rich

[rand1com]

If it goes to Cleveland, it will be at the IX Center. The downtown center is not close to being large enough and they will not eliminate 1/3 of the dealer booths to go there.

[Jewish-collector]

Originally Posted by rand1com

If it goes to Cleveland, it will be at the IX Center. The downtown center is not close to being large enough and they will not eliminate 1/3 of the dealer booths to go there.

Not true. It is larger than Atlantic City and almost as large as Rosemont's. https://www.clevelandconventions.com/

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[Carter08]

Selfishly, Cleveland would be an easy drive for me. And Ohio generally seems like a collecting Mecca. Maybe this has been covered but it seems like the best idea would be an airport hub city so people can fly direct. Detroit, Chicago, Charlotte, NYC, Atlanta, etc.

[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

Not true. It is larger than Atlantic City and almost as large as Rosemont's. https://www.clevelandconventions.com/

Attachment 531130

One thing you need to keep in mind is exhibit space vs total space. AC has ~490k sqft of exhibitor space across 5 connected halls. The Cleveland convention center has ~225k sqft across 3 connected halls. Cleveland than has an additional 140k+ sqft of meeting and pre-function (hallways/lobbies) space and additional auditoriums and ballrooms in the hotel on the full campus. It is only when you combine all these extra spaces is it actually larger than AC or close to Chicago. While this type of space is great for some types of shows and events, all the extra space outside the exhibition halls would not be conducive for a card show in my opinion.

Here are links to the actual floor plans for AC and Cleveland. When you start to look at the actual floor layouts and how the space is broken down you can see why some spaces, even though the total space may be larger, just won't work due to how the space is designed.

AC 2nd level - https://meetac.com/meet/specs-floor-plans

Cleveland - https://www.clevelandconventions.com...oom-Map_v2.pdf

and for additional comparison, here's the floor place for Chicago - https://rosemont.com/desconvention/w...1_RGB_2014.pdf

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

Not true. It is larger than Atlantic City and almost as large as Rosemont's. https://www.clevelandconventions.com/

Attachment 531130

Not to intentionally rain on your parade, but read the info in that convention center link you included. It is put out by the Cleveland Convention Center, so would assume it is accurate, and it states that the center provides 410,000 SF of prime meeting and event space, which includes only 225,000 SF of main Exhibit Hall space. Where did you get those other SF figures, in the chart you posted, from? My guess is those other figures may be gross, overall building dimension SFs, and not truly representative of the actual, contiguous main exhibit floor space available.

In contrast, the Cleveland IX Center has a gross building size of 2.2M SF, and an exhibit floor space of 985,000 SF, more than 4X the 225,000 SF main exhibit hall space in the Cleveland Convention Center, per your link. And based on how the SF numbers for the Cleveland Convention Center in your
chart don't seem to jive with the SF size per the Convention Center's own site, the actual main exhibit hall SF for Rosemont and Atlantic City per your chart may be suspect as well. When they first opened the IX Center in 1985, I believe it was then the largest exhibition center/building in the US, if not all of North America.

Per the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center website, it has a total of 840,000 SF of exhibition space, but that appears to be spread out over various halls/rooms. Their site says for larger shows they have a 250,000 SF continuous exhibit hall/space, which I'm assuming is the same room/hall they use to host the National. If that is the case, then the IX Center's main exhibit floor/room is once again, multiple times bigger.

Just saying........

[Jewish-collector]

Understood. You all might be right. I'm unclear about total contiguous space of the new convention center. Perhaps the facility can be enlarged at some point to make it work.

[insidethewrapper]

Detroit use to have some of the greatest hobby shows. One of the few cities with all 4 major sport teams. What about the Huntington Place convention Center. See all the details at their website.

Between the cities of Chicago and Cleveland. Across the river from Canada collectors, with Toronto only a few hours away.

Free high speed WI-Fi.
4200 parking spaces + 1000's more close by.
Greektown, many eating places etc.
Several Casinos in Detroit.
623,000 sq ft in contiguous floor space. Several other event rooms etc.
Etc.

https://www.huntingtonplacedetroit.com/


Just a thought and another option to consider.

[Huck]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

It has been since 2012 the National was in Baltimore. It has rotated in the three cities mentioned since then. Still, with the Cleveland building closed at the airport and the Ferris Wheel removed, the rotation is simply Atlantic City one year and Chicago another. Man, that puts miles on the car.

I would love to see the National return to Baltimore (only an hour away). At the time, I heard the problem with Baltimore was the venue could not be booked years out, which is a problem when rotating sites. I have attended the show in Cleveland as well. The IX center is huge and tons of parking. DC would be an interesting location. Parking would be a nightmare, especially during the week. Metro access helps alleviate the parking situation.

[Snapolit1]

Chicago - amazingly convenient. Easy to fly to. Location of hotels to center is awesome. Great American city with a lot to do.

Atlantic City - close driving distance for a large section of the population of the country, so much of hobby is actually based on NJ, not a city to spend a lot of time walking about but many people enjoy the selection of casinos and other night life.

Cleveland - honestly not much of a tourist destination and not as easy to travel to as chicago. No offense to Cleveland, been there a few times and don’t need to go back.

Vegas - if it worked out sure. Same with Orlando or one of the California large cities. Places you’d want to go to for a vacation.

I disagree that people will go anywhere. I travel for leisure maybe 2 x a year. I’m not taking a trip to East Jabib because their is a card show there. Has to be other things pulling me there.