'It's Going to be Epic'
After a long night of partying with fellow hobbyists in Southern California in 1991, Darren Prince drove past the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center.
From their limousine, they saw thousands of people waiting outside at 2 a.m. just to get into the National Sports Collectors Convention when it opened eight hours later.
“That’s when we knew the industry [had] arrived,” Prince said.
The 1991 National is still the standard bearer of sports memorabilia conventions. Not just of The National, but of all sports memorabilia conventions — ever.
The 1991 National, run by the late Jack Petruzzelli and the late Mike Berkus, attracted an enormous crowd believed to exceed 100,000 for the five-day show. Free promo cards given away by card makers that year drew insane demand and sizzled when they were sold.
No National has ever compared to 1991, though the 2008 National in Chicago garnered the most pre-event mainstream media coverage ever. About a month before the 2008 event, organizers announced a detailed public relations and publicity campaign to attract media attention. Ultimately, media around the world reported on the 2008 National before the first autograph was even signed that year.
