How National Sports Collectors Convention ‘broke Cleveland’ with record-setting crowd

CLEVELAND—The National broke Cleveland.

The 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention saw a record crowd of more than 100,000 collectors and hobbyists flood the 500,000-square-foot I-X Center for the five-day collectibles extravaganza.

The crowd, which show promoters believe broke the attendance record from last year’s show in Chicago, led to strong business for sports card and memorabilia dealers and big purchases for die-hard collectors.

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But the crowd was so big that it led to major logistical challenges, from heavy traffic and parking problems to long lines inside the building and spotty Wi-Fi and cell service. JBJ Corporation, the new management team that took over the show this year, worked day and night to address the issues and keep a steady flow of attendees on the show floor.

“I can’t take claim for it, but the best phrase I heard was that The National broke Cleveland,” JBJ’s Joe Drelich said. “Because of the amount of hotel rooms, the amount of food, the restrooms, the parking, we exhausted every avenue needed to get people into the space. … The National broke Cleveland.”

Show promoters do not release official attendance numbers for the annual show, but based on pre-event sales and an estimated crowd of 20,000-25,000 per day, JBJ believes the Cleveland show set a new attendance record.

“We were ahead of Chicago going into the show and with our show promotional experience of watching people walk up and traffic flow, we are confident we beat Chicago,” JBJ’s Jimmy Ryan said.

The huge crowds paid off with big sales, with many dealers saying it may have been the best National ever.

“The lines are long, and it’s crazy in here,” Ryan Fiterman, owner of Fiterman Sports of League City, Texas, said. “The crowds have been unbelievable.”

“It’s been huge. We’ve already done more than [this time] last year,” longtime dealer Kit Young said early on Day 3 of the show.

“It’s pretty hectic with the traffic and everything, but business has been great,” said Kevin Savage of Kevin Savage Cards.

“They are pushing them through,” added Rick Giddings of Gizmo’s Sportscards. “There’s a lot of a---- and not enough seats.”

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The show floor was packed all five days, putting a strain on a convention center that was built in 1942. Because of its location just outside downtown Cleveland, there are no hotels within walking distance, leading to heavy traffic getting to the venue. Many attendees reported sitting in traffic for as long as 90 minutes. The convention center stopped charging the $10 parking fee early on Thursday to speed up traffic and get attendees into the building.

“Getting in and out of the parking lot is insanity,” said Paul Furfaro, owner of PTF Sports of Parsippany, N.J.

Longtime collector Murray Goodman of Scottsdale, Ariz., has attended 12 Nationals over the past 20 years but has not returned since Covid. He was excited to attend the Cleveland show with his sons. But after sitting in traffic on Friday and Saturday, he had to walk 15 minutes to get to the main entrance and then another 40 minutes to get in.

“I didn’t fly four hours each way to wait in the parking lot to get in,” Goodman said. “That many people either did the same thing or drove many hours to be at the show was clearly lost on the organizers.”

There were also long lines inside, with some attendees waiting 45 minutes or more to use the restrooms. The show featured a large food court with multiple vendors, but the expanded offerings led to long lines that stretched throughout the show floor.

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The Wi-Fi issues caused problems for both dealers and collectors, bringing back nightmares of the 2022 show in Atlantic City. Several dealers reported missing out on sales on Wednesday and Thursday because they could not process transactions, forcing them to figure out alternative options.

“I couldn’t take credit cards at all yesterday,” Furfaro said on Thursday. “The tech guys were nice enough to be here for about three hours to help me but we just couldn’t get my credit card machine to work no matter what. I definitely lost some sales.”

“I think they got more than they expected when they shut down the parking lot,” said longtime dealer Levi Bleam of 707 Sportscards LTD near Philadelphia. “The lines to get in the bathroom are a half-hour long. … Wi-Fi could be better, but it’s always a challenge, especially when you have all these people streaming.”

Hobby dealers voted three years ago to return to Cleveland for the first time since 2018. But with record crowds the past few years, the new management team anticipated problems and quickly sprang into action, walking the show floor and addressing concerns.

“We were making changes as issues arose, as you always have to do in the show management business,” Ryan said. “You can have the greatest plan going into it, but sometimes things change.”

JBJ’s Brain Coppola worked through the night with internet companies to improve the Wi-Fi and cell service. The staff also opened more restrooms.

“We were addressing problems as they popped up,” Drelich said. “There are a lot of challenges with a building built in 1942 that you simply cannot control. Anything that we could do we certainly tried to work at every point possible to alleviate and make things better.”

The National Board of Directors voted in 2021 to return to Cleveland. But Ryan said the hobby, which enjoyed incredible growth during the Covid pandemic, has simply outgrown Cleveland.

“It’s an old building and we have kind of outgrown it with this show,” he said. 

With a growing hobby and an outdated building, the logistical issues were not surprising to JBJ, which promotes big card shows throughout the industry. Many of the issues, they said, are common problems with big events that draw huge crowds.

“If you go to a Yankee game, you are going to have lines, you’re going to have internet issues, you are going to have food issues,” Coppola said. “It’s just a part of it. We might be wishing for something that is totally unachievable.”

Another big concern entering the show was security, especially with theft becoming a frequent problem in the hobby. Memory Lane Inc. had an estimated $2 million worth of sports cards stolen from a hotel prior to the July show in Strongsville, Ohio, and a dealer reported the theft of another $2 million in cards at the recent Dallas Card Show.

But security was tight in Cleveland and there were few issues reported at the venue.

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The JBJ team had security cameras from two different companies at the show, in addition to its own security. It also had a drone flying above the show floor, while most auction houses and corporate vendors had their own private security.

JBJ had about 60 staff members working the event, in addition to convention center staff. JBJ had high praise for the I-X Center staff, calling it “top-notch.” The night-time building manager even helped with crowd control during the three Trade Nights, which drew an estimated 4,000 per night.

“They went above and beyond. Most of them were working outside their scope of duty to just help,” Ryan said. “The I-X staff was really just amazing.”

After the initial shock over long lines and parking issues, dealers and collectors seemed to settle in and problems with Wi-Fi and other issues soon became an afterthought.

“People are coming and going, buying and selling, and life goes on,” said Bleam, a sports card dealer for more than 40 years. “All the Nationals are great. You wait once a year for it. It’s a good time, and also a class reunion. You get to meet a lot of people. As long as everybody is healthy and we’re still here, it’s all good.”

For dealers, the huge crowds led to strong sales and plenty of business, which curbed the frustration.

“Sales have been pretty unbelievable,” said Fiterman, who had steady traffic at his memorabilia booth. “We’ve been buying as well, and we’ve been able to buy some really high-end pieces at relatively good prices and made some fun trades, so it’s been an all-around very successful National for us.”

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No one is more bullish on the hobby or has more passion for collecting than entrepreneur and social media influencer Gary Vaynerchuk. He summed up the feelings of many while surrounded by a big crowd at his VeeFriends booth.

“The National is like America,” he said. “People complain about America every single day, [but] where the heck else are they going to go? I’m not in the business of complaining, I’m looking for the positive, and I see a ton of positive here.”

So did collectors, who navigated a well-organized show floor, which had clear paths from dealer tables to the breaking and corporate areas and the TRISTAR Autograph Pavilion.

Collector Danny Black, a hobby consultant who has worked with the Baltimore Orioles and the Babe Ruth Museum, said the crowd was one of the largest he’s seen, with a lot of first-time attendees.

“The energy is outstanding,” he said. “The prices compared to what I thought are a little bit higher on the floor, but I think that just shows the strength of the hobby right now. It’s an exciting time to be a collector.”

Like many collectors, Black was just happy to be surrounded by amazing cards and collectibles and to experience it all with friends and fellow collectors.

“It’s like going to Disney World, you know you are going to wait in line, but there’s a ride at the end,” he said.

Dealers and collectors gave JBJ high marks for its first attempt at running the hobby’s largest show.

“Anywhere you do something with 100,000-plus people, there are going to be issues that are out of people’s control,” Fiterman said. “You can complain about it or understand that things happen, and this group is executing and working through problems extremely quickly.

“I am proud of the new group. I think they are doing a phenomenal job and I’m excited to see what they have for this show and the hobby.”

“Every year it gets more and more people,” said Jacob Martin, a frequent National attendee from Detroit. “They are doing as good as they can with an insane task. Not bad for the first time.”

Despite the challenges, JBJ is proud of the record-setting event. The three promoters estimate they each walked 15 to 18 miles a day addressing problems on the show floor. They logged even more miles in a golf cart. 

“It was a monster,” Coppola said.

“Even though a lot of things went wrong, if you were to pick that show up and pop it into a newer building, a lot of those problems just go away automatically,” Drelich said. “I would say we’re pretty proud of what we pulled off.”