After a one-year stop in Cleveland, it’ll be back-to-back Chicago visits for the National Sports Collectors Convention.
Show promoters announced Monday that dealers have voted to award the 2026 event to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, the same site of the 2023 and ’25 shows. Between 2011 and 2026, the National will have been held in Rosemont nine times. In all, Chicago has hosted the event 13 times since its inception in 1980.
National dealers voted on where to hold the 2026 show in person and by mail during and immediately after the 2023 show. Chicago received 170 votes. Atlantic City and Atlanta, GA were the other two options. Atlantic City, which has hosted several times including 2022, finished second with 111 votes with Atlanta named on 52 of the 333 ballots cast.
“In changing the voting process to an in person ballot cast at the booth lottery, we had the highest percentage ever of dealer participation in the voting,” show organizers stated Monday.
Chicago is a popular choice among dealers, largely for its accessibility, numerous hotels that are within walking distance and the large Midwest collector base that hasn’t been shy about spending money. More tickets were sold to the 2023 Chicago NSCC than any other time in the show’s history, beating even the 1991 show in Anaheim that had more than 100,000 visitors.
The 2024 show is set for the IX Center in Cleveland but where the show heads after 2026 is a mystery. While collectors and dealers in other parts of the country have clamored for more variety in the show’s location, there are a number of factors that have made it difficult or impossible to expand beyond what’s become a Chicago, Atlantic City and Cleveland rotation. It’s been 17 years since the show was held west of the Mississippi River.
JBJ Promotions, which takes over management of the show on Nov. 1, has vowed to at least explore other potential sites for 2027 and beyond but others have called for show organizers to make Chicago the show’s permanent home.
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