November 2023 Sport Expo Thoughts

[Chinner]

This was my first expo and I had a blast! I was there Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I bought the VIP pass and was glad I did as it saved me some time and hassle getting into the show and bypassing the long entrance lines to get inside. Thursday and Friday were great for me personally as I was able to walk around the floors at my pace.

My main reason for the trip was to get a some cards graded and a lot of PC cards re-cased with Beckett. I spent quite a bit of time at the Beckett booth on Friday and noticed that they seemed to always have a line and whenever I was there they just seemed "busier". PSA hard a large section of the hall and but it never looked like they were super busy. Glad I did this before all of the autograph signers when that hall really got busy.

Definitely want to make it back for the next expo but will likely try to stay closer to the show (stayed in downtown as I had the wife with me).

It was great to finally meet a lot of members that I've only known by username on the forum.

 

[slave13]

We went down there on Sunday. I was shocked with the parking lot fiasco. They only had 1 entrance to the entire facility from the Airport Road side. It literally took us 30 minutes to get into the parking lot. There were 2 or 3 entrances on the south side of the facility closed off by gates. We should have jumped the curb and went off-roading. I have never seen those gates closed. People were doing crazy u-turns and wedging themselves into the long line of cars trying to turn into the parking lot. I do not know if other days were like this, but we would have been there for the opening of the doors and instead got in at 10:30. I was tight in getting into the Vincent Damphousse signing line because of it. Hoping someone can shed some light on that part and maybe prevent that from happening at the next show.

 

[SNobles]

We went down there on Sunday. I was shocked with the parking lot fiasco. They only had 1 entrance to the entire facility from the Airport Road side. It literally took us 30 minutes to get into the parking lot. There were 2 or 3 entrances on the south side of the facility closed off by gates. We should have jumped the curb and went off-roading. I have never seen those gates closed. People were doing crazy u-turns and wedging themselves into the long line of cars trying to turn into the parking lot. I do not know if other days were like this, but we would have been there for the opening of the doors and instead got in at 10:30. I was tight in getting into the Vincent Damphousse signing line because of it. Hoping someone can shed some light on that part and maybe prevent that from happening at the next show.

I was only there for Friday and I got there by 10:30. I came in off the 407 so was on Derry Rd, was able to come in that way on that day. Got to the Hall 5 area for parking without issue.

I know last year we went up on the Saturday and parking was a nightmare that day. We ended up having to park on the Hall 1 side and walk all the way around.

 

[will-411]

There were multiple shows going on at the same time and there simply wasn't enough parking on site to match demand. Not enough car poolers I guess...

Cory

 

[TMLFan3]

Ya the Cottage Life show was going on. It usually attracts a BIG crowd. Older demo too.

 

[creasecollector]

Same Issue with the parking when I arrived on saturday morning/early afternoon. I took about an hour to get into the parking lot. Crazy.

Overall I had a ton of fun at the Expo once again. This year was probably the busiest I've ever seen. The crowds, while tough to navigate through at times, were great to see.

Sometimes it feels like we are on our own little island on these forums/online social groups when it comes to hockey card collecting. But the health of the hobby is strong, which is amazing to see in person.

I didn't pickup a ton of stuff, and I usually just prefer to coast around and keep a lower profile at shows, but I am happy with what I managed to grab for my goalie card collection. Also snagged a Toronto Arenas Hertiage Classic jersey from the Real Sports booth which was cool. Another great Expo exdperience for me.

 

[hobbytime]

I agree with everyone the parking was indeed awful. What they need to do is not schedule other bigger events during the Expo dates. And we've seen now with the Spring expo being in April that the Expo is flexible with their schedule. The international centre needs to be themselves too.