Show Review - Chicago Sports Spectacular - Quite Spectacular
Many may already know, and others may not, but sometimes lost in the shuffle of the upcoming holiday season is the Chicago Sports Spectacular. Housed in the upper level of Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, located in Rosemont, IL, the Spectacular is a bi-annual show 3 day show that traditionally takes place around St. Patrick's Day in the spring and the weekend before Thanksgiving in the fall.
Though the Windy City weather is known to be a bit cold and harsh this time of year, the action taking place inside the room can be quite the opposite. A roughly 200,000 sq ft space packed with local and national dealers, auction houses, authenticators, current athletes, hall of famers, and Hollywood celebrities seemed to have something for almost any form of modern collector.
Walking the entire show floor from noon-6pm on Friday afternoon was a bit daunting but proved to be the perfect opportunity to see all of the gems and treasures the show had to offer before the general public flooded the room over the next few days.
From Funko's, Silver Age Comics, and framed memorabilia, to seldom seen items such as Frank Thomas No Name rookies in a PSA 6, and autographs of legendary Native American Chief Sitting Bull, this installment of the Spectacular really did have something for everybody.
And though his last NBA game was over 20yrs ago, Michael Jordan still reigns supreme in Chicago. On average, it seemed that every dealer had at least half of a showcase full of Air Jordan cards. Various raw base and insert cards dominated the overall population with PSA 8's and 9's making up most of the graded card selection. A bit on the scarce side were the 1986 Fleer rookie card, 90's refractors, relics, and PSA 10's of His Airness. The increasingly popular 1996-97 Topps Sticky Fingers insert made a few appearances in a PSA 10 grade, while the most unique card in the room was a 1999-00 Upper Deck Inkredible on-card auto numbered 23/23.
Dealer participation ranged from the local Chicagoland area and regional neighboring states of Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin to farther distances of South Carolina, Georgia, and the Dakota's. Most dealers advised of Saturday being the busiest day of the show with not a lot of downtime between customers. When asked how their shows had been on Sunday, most replied with some variation of "it's been a good weekend."
What has become the foundation and major draw of these shows over the years is the autograph guests. Like dealer participation the guests vary between the local and national professional sports teams to the globally known celebrities at times. On hand for the course weekend were the likes of NFL Hall of Famers and Chicago Bears linebacker royalty Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher. Former stars of a different spotlight, 6x WCW Heavyweight Champion Sting and Henry Winkler aka The Fonz, showed up on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday the focal point for the autograph pavilion was a semi-complete cast reunion for the movie 'A League of Their Own' with Geena Davis headlining the overall event.
One interesting trend that I observed was the amount of collectible currency that seemed to be in the room. At least half a dozen dealers or more had some form of coin or paper currency pairing with there sports cards and memorabilia. Perhaps this is a trend worth watching as we move forward with the overall collectibles hobby
In summation the show seemed to be a home run for all involved both dealer and collector while also growing to be an all-inclusive show for all things collectible. Looking forward to seeing what the spring show has to offer as we start a new year of collecting. Hope to see you there. Cheers and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
-6447ee8defd28a614c069ddd3f05f017.png "Clayton Price")
90’s Kid Approaching Middle Age Collector of Sports Cards & Memorabilia Cubs, Packers, and Tar Heels Fan