Best Choice Fieldhouse in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers, IN is best known for basketball. Six courts and over 50,000 square-feet of space in the heart of basketball country. This week, though, the hardwood comes up and the facility becomes home to one of the biggest sports card shows of the year.
J&J All-Star Sports Cards is promoting its inaugural Midwest Monster, a two-day event that’s attracting collectors and dealers from coast to coast. The show takes place Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18.
“One of the goals I had, having done shows for years, was to have a bigger show for the Midwest,” promoter Jeff Meyrose told SC Daily. “We’ve been working on this for probably close to a year.”
Shows everywhere are hot. With booth prices at a reasonable $200, the 350+ tables are sold out. Meyrose says he could have sold at least 500.
“My phone is still ringing.”
The show comes on the same weekend as the Chicago Sports Spectacular, so for at least a few days, the nation’s midsection will be quite a hobby hotbed.
Meyrose has promoted an Indianapolis area show since the 1990s and recently expanded into the Louisville market so he knows the area well. Putting on a much larger show that attracts sizeable crowds and plenty of merchandise means a lot more to think about, though.
“You have a lot of different parameters with a show of this size including security,” Meyrose said. “You have to do everything on a larger scale but at the same time make it user friendly for everybody. It’s a lot of work.”
The work has paid off, with some card shop owners, service providers and collectors traveling long distances to attend.
“The card community is tight. Everybody knows everybody. We’ve had great support from everyone, from local card shops as well as other shows. We are all in this to have fun, enjoy ourselves and sell some cards so it’s grown very fast but I think everyone’s going to enjoy themselves.”
Former UNLV and NBA star Larry Johnson and Indianapolis Colts defensive back Kenny Moore II will be signing autographs Saturday, but the focus will be on the dealers and service providers who will be setting up. Expect some high value cards to be on the floor, especially modern era material, but there will be dealers with vintage, gaming and non-sports as well.
While most two-day shows operate Saturday and Sunday, a decision was made early on to run the Midwest Monster from midday Friday through Saturday instead.
“Father’s Day is Sunday and a lot of the guys want to be with their families,”Meyrose explained. “ I’ve been to a lot of shows over the years and Sunday’s always a bit of a drop off anyway. Some of the out of town guys like to fly in, get these two days under their belt and be able to get a flight back home and get ready for Monday morning.”
There’s also a trade night event planned at a facility located at nearby Noblesville High School on Friday night after the show.
Plans are already in the works for another Monster in October.
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