If you believe the press release, Collectors Universe, parent company of PSA, has purchased a major California tradeshow company with an eye on putting sports into the mix. A cool $2.4 million was enough to get the deal going.
The deal melds two southern California companies into a partnership; one a promoter(Expos Unlimited), the other a grading and authentication company (Collectors Universe). One would guess CU will use the Long Beach and Santa Clara facilities to run it’s own large sports memorabilia and/or autograph collectors’ shows.
"By teaming up with Collectors, we foresee additional opportunities to make the Long Beach and Santa Clara Expos even more vital to the collecting interests of our core coin and stamp enthusiasts and dealers," said Expos’ Chairman Ron Gillio.
"In addition, we plan to explore the possibilities for leveraging Collectors’ deep relationships and expertise in other high-value asset classes, such as autographs and sports memorabilia, to create new and exciting exhibition opportunities for our venues. Expos will continue to be operated from the current offices in Santa Barbara, California with the same staff."