The National Changes 2022 Location

Posted on October 17, 2020 by Pre-War Cards

At the end of 2018, the National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) announced the next five dates and locations for the annual event.

After an announcement that the 2022 location, the IX Center in Cleveland, would be closing, the National started looking elsewhere. This week, it was announced that the National in 2022 would be held in Atlantic City, NJ.

With the announcement last month that the IX Center would be closing at the end of the year the National began plans to relocate its 2022 location. This week the NSCC Board of Directors approved Atlantic City’s ACCC as the site of #NSCC22 The dates remain July 27-31 2022.

— The National (@nsccshow) October 16, 2020

The move, of course, made plenty of sense. This year’s National, canceled by the spread of the COVID-19 virus, was supposed to be held in Atlantic City. This effectively re-awards the event back to that city.

Still, the announcement was met with plenty of anger. Atlantic City has long been a punching bag of collectors for a variety of reasons, including the National often being held there, it being so far away from the west coast, and simply not a desirable location.

The numerous replies the Twitter account got forced the National’s account to reply, explaining the decision in part by laying out the qualifications needed for a venue to hold the event.

I can see the frustration from collectors on this. But I also understand the National doesn’t have an easy job in trying to line up locations. The requirements provided by the operators of the event likely rule out many of the locations that collectors would like to see. Whether or not those requirements are justified is, I suppose, up to some degree of interpretation. And truthfully, I think a location that is more central in the country is better than one extreme — east coast or west coast. But the reality is that, for those insistent on going, they will show up in any location.