More from SportsFest '98

Last week in part one of my look at SportsFest '98 I spent some time looking at what the manufacturers were up to at the show, but you can bet there was a lot more going on then just promo cards. The show also had 500 dealer booths filled with every kind of sports cards and collectibles you could imagine. I can't imagine a better place to see cards you never thought you'd see then at a show this size.

On Sunday I spent some time talking to various dealers around the floor and many of them weren't so happy. I guess while people were doing a lot of looking, there wasn't much buying going on. A few mentioned that the promotions given out by the manufacturers were keeping people waiting in lines at the sponsor booths when they could be shopping the dealer tables. Others noted that the only thing they were able to sell was the wax packs and boxes needed for these promotions. If you carried Pacific products you probably did pretty well as each Pacific dealer had a Pacific balloon flying over their table to let people know they could buy cards for the promotion there. If you were lucky enough to have Press Pass Football then you could sell it at raised prices to collectors looking to get the Peyton Manning autograph.

The other factor that kept customers from the dealer tables was the autograph pavilion. With both free autographs and paid autographs the pavilion was always jammed with fans carrying pictures, helmets, footballs, jerseys, and whatever else they brought to get signed. Guests like Brett Favre, Pete Rose, Wilt Chamberlain, and many more caused huge lines and held potential buyers from spending too much time and money at the tables. I've seen the same problem at other large shows (including the National) and it seems like some changes need to be made to keep the dealers going to these shows.

One nice thing about SportsFest was how it treated kids. A few months ago I went to Fleer's NBA Jam Session in New York and mentioned how good it was to be at an event geared more toward children. At SportsFest this continued with a huge interactive area where kids could go and test their skills in various events under adult supervision. One of the most popular was the football passing machine that would give you a chance to run a route, turn around, and watch the perfect pass land in your arms.

Even better was the Kids Store area where kids could get free cards and packs of cards at very reduced rates. All of the product in the Kids Store and interactive area (used for prizes) was donated by all of the manufacturers onhand. It should be a priority in our hobby to get more youth interested in collecting and it can't be done much better than Kids Store. Send a child in with $5 and watch them come out with a pile of loot and a big smile. Also, since the product was all donated, all of the profit was donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia.

Besides the players signing at the autograph pavilion, there were also many others signing at various tables and booths around the show. Bernie Parent was part of a Pinnacle promotion. Marvin Harrison signed at the NFL Players Inc. booth. Various Flyers made appearances at the Flyers table and another table featured a group of Vince Lombardi's players for the Packers. ESPN host Roy Firestone spent some time on Friday at the Pacific booth signing his insert set. Two of the manufacturers even went second generation with Richie Ashburn Jr. at Upper Deck and Danny Mantle at Fleer/Skybox.

Also signing at the show were NFL Hall of Famer's Ron Mix, Chuck Bednarik, and Lenny Moore at the H.O.F. Cards booth. Hall of Fame Cards is the brainchild of former Charger great Mix, who along with his wife Patti started H.O.F. Cards to give the autograph collector a great new set, and help his fellow Hall of Famers who might not be doing so well.

"After I became a member of the Hall of Fame, I realized that many of the guys weren't doing so well..." "...that's why I made sure that 80% of the profit would go back to them" -Ron Mix NFL HOF 1979

I stopped by the booth on Saturday afternoon hoping to get a few words with Ron Mix in between his signing items for a seemingly endless line of fans. Ron was happy to talk about the set while Patti showed off the beautiful uncut sheets to prospective customers and local hero Bednarik signed autographs and chatted with the crowd. Mix told me that when he was inducted into Canton he got a chance to meet a lot of players he had never known. "... I came to realize that many of the guys weren't doing so well. They didn't make much when they played and their pension plan wasn't good."

Over the years Mix came up with the idea for the card set. By structuring the company so 80 percent of the profit goes back to the players he's found a way to help his fellow HOFers where they can be involved. The Platinum Edition will be limited to 2500 sets of 121 autographed player cards. At first when you hear the $1750.00 price tag your mouth might hang open, but as Mix explains "It comes out to about $14.50 per card which is a bargain for Hall of Fame autographs." The artwork was directed by Merv Corning with seven other artists besides Corning contributing to the series. Seventy of the pieces were created new just for this set.

I noticed that not every big name was on the list so I asked Mix about it. "We weren't able to get about a dozen guys to join us, but if this first series is a success we hope we can convince them to be in an update set." Already Jim Brown has agreed to be in the first update set which should also feature new inductees. Hopefully some of the others holdouts like Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, and Walter Payton will highlight future update sets. I asked about the possibility that he would expand into other card sets, but Mix was quick to say he didn't want to be in the business and his only interest was in the H.O.F. cards. I came away with a good feeling talking to someone like Ron Mix who was truly helping our hobby as well as some of the great players on the cards we collect.

That's all from Philadelphia, but look for some great new product updates this week as I return from my business trip to Ireland and start opening up some packs. Interested in what the card scene is like in Dublin, Ireland? So was I, but unfortunately I haven't come across a single pack so far! Even with the World Cup just a day away, I haven't seen any soccer cards.

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