Observations on the current state of the hobby from a show this weekend

[coupie21]

Originally Posted by solt0131

Pittsburgh Card Show was so busy yesterday that there was a line to get in because they hit capacity around 11:30AM. It's also a free admission-free parking show.

I was going to go to this show, but talked myself out of it. How were the prices? Did you manage to pick anything up? These shows are such a crap show anymore, that I just end up leaving irritated at the prices and the people.

[PuddleMonkey]

Thread is now page four fodder. Maybe we can add 'Pokemon' to the title to generate interest just like they had to do to card shows.

[auctionjmm]

Big convention in Cleveland this weekend from Friday-Sunday.

Two shows merged into one. Great Lakes Collector's Convention and Strongsville Sports Collectors Convention. (Yes, Strongsville is the one with the Best Western theft. They got out of there for this year.)

https://greeniesportscards.com/great-lakes-convention

[swerve]

Austin Card Show was probably the best one ever this past weekend.

[cardmike]

Originally Posted by swerve

Austin Card Show was probably the best one ever this past weekend.

I had the complete opposite experience. We must have been looking for different things. This was the worst Austin Card Show I have been to. Also I went on Friday(was originally planning on going Fri and Sat) so not sure if that affected things, but I usually go on Friday and usually it's great with many deals still to be had.

I went with $500 cash and came home with $460

- 50-60% tables were pokemon or hype boyz "I WILL BUY YOUR CARDS" only tables
- I have an index of ultra modern cards I look for and all the ones I found this weekend were priced high compared to other recent shows in the area
- Surprisingly small amount of dollar boxes available

[swerve]

Originally Posted by cardmike

I had the complete opposite experience. We must have been looking for different things. This was the worst Austin Card Show I have been to. Also I went on Friday(was originally planning on going Fri and Sat) so not sure if that affected things, but I usually go on Friday and usually it's great with many deals still to be had.

I went with $500 cash and came home with $460

- 50-60% tables were pokemon or hype boyz "I WILL BUY YOUR CARDS" only tables
- I have an index of ultra modern cards I look for and all the ones I found this weekend were priced high compared to other recent shows in the area
- Surprisingly small amount of dollar boxes available

Sorry to hear, ultra modern isn't my thing.

[BdotHobbs]

I went on Sunday and had a good time but didn’t spend much money. All the money was moving at the TCG tables. I don’t understand it but they were definitely having fun and spending/making money

Ohtani & Wemby seemed like the only players that were really moving. Lots of annoying dudes plopping their cases down on top of the display cases and blocking the cards while trying to sell crap that nobody wants to the dealers. I blame the dealers for letting them do that sh*t though. Shows in Houston & SA always have more of what I’m looking for so I’m not gonna judge the Austin show too harshly. Plus going to a card show is still fun even if you don’t come home with a ton of new cards

[tyrith]

Austin show has definitely gotten very TCG centric, and even in periods when I was buying sports more heavily I've always struggled to find sports cards I actually wanted to buy there. For whatever reason the sports dealers in the room just don't curate very well, price very well, or price very close to market. As a TCG show it's usually pretty solid, though.

[Retired hobbist]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Sadly, this is what I see at local shows as well.

Not worth the price of admission.

Aren't all of these cards the definition of Junk Wax?

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by Retired hobbist

Aren't all of these cards the definition of Junk Wax?

Does that make my local shows junk conventions ?

[f2tornado]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

Thread is now page four fodder. Maybe we can add 'Pokemon' to the title to generate interest just like they had to do to card shows.

Funny. The Minnesota Card Show did a Pokémon only day to keep that shat out of the sports show the day before.

I don't mind a little Pokémon or other odd stuff but it was disappointing driving a long way to the big Denver show advertised as a 1000 tables that was more like 600 and half were TCG. Des Moines made up for that debacle.

Small local show Saturday I'll hit. I sometimes find a decent amount of stuff at those micro-shows. On the fence making drive to Fargo Sunday since I have not been to that one in a few months but have picked those tables apart over the years making deals harder to land each subsequent visit.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by f2tornado

I don't mind a little Pokémon or other odd stuff but it was disappointing driving a long way to the big Denver show advertised as a 1000 tables that was more like 600 and half were TCG.

Promoters are going to drive away potential attendees in droves if they continue to hold "mixed" shows, especially if they're charging admission fees and in an area where people have to pay for parking.

I don't think too many sports card collectors are going to be willing to pay $25-50 dollars (if you include the cost of gas) just to get in the door of a show that may be only 50% sports cards.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Promoters are going to drive away potential attendees in droves if they continue to hold "mixed" shows, especially if they're charging admission fees and in an area where people have to pay for parking.

I don't think too many sports card collectors are going to be willing to pay $25-50 dollars (if you include the cost of gas) just to get in the door of a show that may be only 50% sports cards.

Don’t think they’re worried. They’ll happily replace you with TCG buyers who come and actually spend real money instead of people who worry about the equivalent of the cost of lunch.

[tconte]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Don’t think they’re worried. They’ll happily replace you with TCG buyers who come and actually spend real money instead of people who worry about the equivalent of the cost of lunch.

Agree 100%.

The last Brotherly Love Show was packed. Three to four rows of mostly
TCG collectors/flippers. I took my son who enjoyed himself.
If I didn't go, they would not miss me.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Don’t think they’re worried. They’ll happily replace you with TCG buyers who come and actually spend real money instead of people who worry about the equivalent of the cost of lunch.

And that would be fine.

Have TCG shows and have sports card shows......just don't try and mix the two.

[jacksonjj]

Originally Posted by BdotHobbs

I went on Sunday and had a good time but didn’t spend much money. All the money was moving at the TCG tables. I don’t understand it but they were definitely having fun and spending/making money

Ohtani & Wemby seemed like the only players that were really moving. Lots of annoying dudes plopping their cases down on top of the display cases and blocking the cards while trying to sell crap that nobody wants to the dealers. I blame the dealers for letting them do that sh*t though. Shows in Houston & SA always have more of what I’m looking for so I’m not gonna judge the Austin show too harshly. Plus going to a card show is still fun even if you don’t come home with a ton of new cards

So much this every show now. ugh make them stop. Put your freaking cases on the ground.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by mfw13

And that would be fine.

Have TCG shows and have sports card shows......just don't try and mix the two.

Be willing to spend more and they won’t have to. The promoters and dealers go where the money is. You balked at spending something like $350 to get a card you’ve been chasing for a set while there are TCG guys regularly spending 6 to 7 figures per show for inventory. You see the issue, right? TCG is subsidizing all these shows. You should be more thankful there’s even the opportunity.

[PuddleMonkey]

Drove across town today to the only local shop I can get 55pt top loaders (59 and 60 are useless). It's a shop that expanded into the next space to start carrying TCG a year or two ago. I was shocked at how many people were in there mid day on a Tuesday, I counted 18 people not including me. 15 of those were on the TCG side and to be fair it was multiple parents and their kids but a headcount is a headcount. I got behind the one person at the only cash register in the place which is on the sports card side to see that he was buying TCG so that TCG headcount became 16 of 18. Crazy.

[NYBBFAN]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

Drove across town today to the only local shop I can get 55pt top loaders (59 and 60 are useless). It's a shop that expanded into the next space to start carrying TCG a year or two ago. I was shocked at how many people were in there mid day on a Tuesday, I counted 18 people not including me. 15 of those were on the TCG side and to be fair it was multiple parents and their kids but a headcount is a headcount. I got behind the one person at the only cash register in the place which is on the sports card side to see that he was buying TCG so that TCG headcount became 16 of 18. Crazy.

It’s spring break for a lot of kids.

[PuddleMonkey]

Originally Posted by NYBBFAN

It’s spring break for a lot of kids.

That explains the lack of traffic this week.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Be willing to spend more and they won’t have to.

???

Why the heck would I want to spend more at a show that is even less likely to have any of the cards I'm looking for because half its tables are dedicated to something I have no interest in?

[tyrith]

Originally Posted by mfw13

???

Why the heck would I want to spend more at a show that is even less likely to have any of the cards I'm looking for because half its tables are dedicated to something I have no interest in?

The point is that the TCG buyers are vastly outspending the sports buyers right now in total dollar volume. The shows go the direction the money goes. A lot of these big shows cannot operate at the scale they're operating at if they are sports only, and for the organizer they tend to want them to be as big as they can be; they DO scale in that way.

Whenever it becomes financially advantageous for show organizers to have sports only shows, they'll have sports only shows. It's going to take something different happening in the market versus now to get a bunch of 300+ table sports only shows going though.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by mfw13

???

Why the heck would I want to spend more at a show that is even less likely to have any of the cards I'm looking for because half its tables are dedicated to something I have no interest in?

[Twalk1975]

Phoenix is having what I believe is it's first attempt at a sports only show in a few weeks. It should be slightly bigger than the shows we had pre-boom. It's also pretty far out on the west side, which is an odd choice since most shows are held in the Phoenix-Tempe-Mesa area. I'm planning on checking it out to see how it goes.

[ScooterD]

Are there still tables at shows saying that they will buy at 80-90% comps? I hear about in on this site, but the tables at the Nat’l weren’t actually doing that