WARNING: The National Isn’t Ready for What’s Coming Next

Today on Cards on the table we discuss:

The Positives and Negatives of The National
A massive new deal by Burbank
The new commercial released by Topps

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[SportsCardInvestor]

Arena Club’s Ruby packs are now live! Download the app and use promo code SCI for 10% off.

[mikesheldon]

I think your spot on with Orlando and Vegas, those are convention cities with plenty of hotel and flight options

[mikeywestside]

If The National was smart enough they would hold two conventions each year to accommodate the market.

[Foxa]

Dealers were extremely off this year. I understand wanting to get a good price for your cards, and the classic "paying 80% comps" isn't the right move all the time. But they were genuinely asking 2x 3x the value of the card.

[That_TSLA_Dude]

*Traffic
*Bathrooms
*Trash
*Lines for food
*Hotels

[ricecakejohnson]

Also, the internet at these conventions need to be better, way better.

[mikeleonard]

Not going to lie...this was my first national and I had a miserable time. I don't see any reason for me to travel to another national. If it's in my backyard again, maybe I would go again, but the inability to get to tables, the network constraints to be able to look up comps or make good trades were just non-starters. Not to mention that most cards were so costly compared to comps. It just felt like a waste of time aside from it being my first national experience. I will stick to smaller card shows where I can actually make trades and have conversations

[daviddietrich]

So glad I didn't waste my time and $$ going this year. Unless you were VIP and trading before the actual show. Non stop traffic and overpriced sellers. Def ruining the hobby from true collectors.

[VRaptor]

Orlando is the perfect spot for the National as it has a massive convention center, close hotels and restaurants that can easily handle attendance. It also is family friendly location which the hobby is focused. Fanatics is already having a collectors event in Orlando this year. National needs to realize this or it will lose it’s place as premier collectors convention.

[emitche]

The best part is for 4 years, Ive heard all the haters "its gonna pop, its going down" but yet, here we are!!

[thaatguuy]

National should be in vegas with our plenty of convention space and hotel rooms for everyone

[andrewmcdougall]

Geoff's a super nice guy. For him to be amped like this, must be some pretty aggravating aspects of the National!

[johngast]

The National has always had more dealers wanting to set up than spaces available. Just because somebody 2 or 3 Kabooms doesn't mean they are a dealer or should have a table at the National. And they also shouldn't get the table at the expense of some of the vintage dealers who can actually remember the days of sitting in a mall Friday-Sunday to maybe make $1k. Cleveland was always seen as the "affordable" National where you didn't get gouged for hotel rooms vs Anaheim, Chicago, or AC. People will end up spending way more in Chicago for hotel, food and other non-National expenses. If this was your only Cleveland National wasn't like this before. There was at 1/3rd of that building not being used this time.

[magicfan]

Orlando would be a great location. Las Vegas too. Those cities have the infrastructure for visitors. Anaheim and NY would be good too.

[ryanchamplin]

First time at the National and glad to hear your comments. The line was insane and they weren’t even scanning everyone’s tickets, way too packed inside, need more space so people can browse without being on top of each other, food and bathroom lines were bad all day, autograph experience with Tristar was terrible (ask anyone that paid for joint photo with Chevy/Randy). All that said, I’m a vintage collector and found more than I could have wanted at this show and will definitely try Chicago. I was afraid vintage would be a strong minority but thankfully I was wrong. Thx for all the great content! You guys are great. Keep up the great work!

[stadiumlightproductions]

The traffic was horrible but the I-X center is a top 10 biggest convention centers in the US

[T.R.U.T.H]

Chicago has the McCormick place. Chicago is fine, Geoff

[RJM]

I would also like to see the national split the dealer tables into space based on modern or vintage. For me personally, I don’t want to see anything shiny and metallic.I think both modern and vintage collectors would be happy to see the show broken off like this in the floor plan.

[eddieeverhart]

My father-in-law and I went for the first time and we were talking about how people like us will eventually get priced out. Many tables had $1, 000 cards as their cheapest cards. If not for dollar boxes, we wouldn't have been able to pick things up. I'm not saying sellers shouldn't have expensive stuff, but maybe have a section for folks who can't bring thousands to the show.

[tylernesbitt]

I was at the national Friday and Saturday. I agree that almost every table was overpriced. My friends who also collect didn't buy much (and came pockets heavy from Canada) because they said they could get better deals online. The trade night was awesome though. Set up a small table of cards with a friend and did really well, traded some cards and funded some future purchases.