The National 2026: What to Expect at the Hobby’s Biggest Event in Sports Cards & Collectibles

I think there might be a chance to get a few more autos this year at the national. The last year was record breaking. We're going to do that again. More dealers, more choice, more selection. I mean, it's insane. You can buy tickets for all of the athletes that have been announced. You can bring memorabilia of your own. It could be a card, it could be a jersey, but they'll sign their autograph on to that particular item for you. Tickets are on sale for that now and both sell out pretty quickly. FOMO is real. The only one that I can't miss is the national. And vaccination will be there. Ryan and Brian, the LUTX team, everybody, we'll all be there. For the great watching, if you're not coming to the national, you're missing out. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, you take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Offer and Brian LUTX. What's up guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. We're always talking all things, collectibles, trading cards, shows, entertainment, Brian and Ryan here on a Wednesday, recording for Friday, and look, there's just big things that happen in the hobby. It's a big industry. A lot of things, exciting things. But very few things get people fired up like the national. He is Shane Winn. He's the SDOMC. That's the senior director of market communications. What's up, Shane? It's going on, Ryan. Good to see you, man. Hey, man, I'm pumped. I'm like, you know, I went to my first national last year. Brian was a gracious host in the LUTX lounge. And let me just tell you, it was like the greatest fire hose I've ever drank. It was like, I mean, I was like, I had sheer joy, fear, trepidation, excitement, and energy all in one. And it delivered and then some. So I want to say, damn, you guys don't have to throw a party. And it was awesome. It's getting bigger every year. I mean, last year was record breaking in terms of the number of people that were there. The number of corporate partners continues to increase the number of dealer tables. We finally expanded the list of dealers last year. We're going to do that again, like triple fold this year. And we can talk a little bit more about that. But I expect this year to be record breaking in the way that last year was too. So we're pretty excited. It's a big deal. I didn't understand it until I went. And I'm glad I kept actually now, having, I mean, we're coming up on this year's. It's just a literally a hop-skipping way. But with perspective, because if I was doing this interview and I hadn't gone, I feel like it'd be like almost inauthentic in a way. But even more than that, I wouldn't quite grasp it. But I was an observer because this show didn't exist yet. I was coming in. I knew business was going. I own a shop. I'm it now a year later, I own a shop. Brian, I partner on this show. I'm knee deep in it. But let me touch in fact, I got sucked into this vortex. Exactly. Brian got me the whole bud. The hobby got me. But the national really got me. I mean, before we just dive into absolute nuts and bolts, where does the national sort of hold itself within this industry and this boom that's happening? You know, it's such a great time to be alive in the hobby. Did you guys take a step back and think about where your position is in this whole thing? Very much. Yeah, very much so. It's a great question. In France, they use the term patron, right? And that is an individual or an entity that feels responsibility over a particular. Yeah. And I think we would say where we feel like we're patrons of the hobby. So we take that very seriously. And I think that the uniqueness about the national, one thing that's very unique about it is it is very hobby first, right? The core of the hobby, which keeps getting bigger and bigger, is always going to be front and center of the focus of the national. And so as we've witnessed this, you know, current explosion in the collectible space, I'm even broader than sports really, but with sports at the foundation, you know, we continue to make sure that we produce the national in a way that makes the dealers proud. It makes the participants that are coming in to buy and sell proud. And it gives the corporate partners an opportunity to engage with them. But the focus is the cards and the focus is the people and the dealers and it always will be. Yeah. And I'll say this, I almost would call it controlled chaos. But you know what? Yeah, I say it's not fair because I had no time to feel chaotic. Like I told my sons, my sons are both, you know, their kids, they were, they were 12, 13 last year or two of my boys that came. I told them this because you know, I point out thing like in my business, and I say, you know, because they know some of the scale of the things that I've worked on with Verizon and some big brands and stuff. And I go, let me tell you, the organization and how well that this thing flows for how big it is and how large it is and all that's going on right now, like I'd point out stuff to them, like impressive. You guys have somehow found that fine line of both of the growth and what you guys do there. I talked to that to Shane. Yeah, I mean, it's continuation of what we were talking about right at the top of the, of the podcast, like all that's very intentional and that line, you know, constantly, you know, where we side on that line is if it doesn't feel hobby-centric and it doesn't respect the dealer and it doesn't respect the patrons who are coming in and trading and selling cards and buying cards, it doesn't matter, right? Like if that box is not checked, the national does not have the value that it needs to have for the hobby. So, you know, everything we do is with the dealers in mind and I'll say this like, there's a lot of demand by dealers to be at the national, right? There's a lot of great regional card shows throughout the year, you know, here and overseas, but there's only one national, right? You know, and it's truly an international event. As a result of it, you know, we've got a long list of dealers who want to be here and we simply haven't had space for them. So, like last year, for example, we experimented moving up into hall G, which is at the top of the escalators there. So it's on the second floor and it's a big area and we put in, we opened it up to 50 new dealers to be able to exhibit there for the first time and we put them all up there in that space and it was kind of an experience to see like, will people go up there? Will it be an attraction? Will they want to, you know, stay up there? Will the dealers find it valuable? Will we get enough foot traffic all of that? It surpasses our expectations. So this year, that whole hall is being completely blown out. So if you remember going up there last year, it was kind of a little space in the center, right? It was pretty tight, right? And this year, when you walk through those doors and you look to the left, that entire space is going to be full. It is all corporate spaces on the perimeter horseshoe and then we have 150 new tables that we're putting in. So we're expanding to even more dealers this year to give more dealers the opportunity to be there. But like, that's the focus when we really sit down and we start planning on a yearly basis, what is it we're going to do? The first thing we think about is what are we doing for the dealers and what are we, you know, to make that experience as good as it was last year or even better? You know, and by having more dealers now, you've got more choice, you have more selection, you know, we've got an international pavilion that's going to go up there this year and that's going to focus on some of the more non-traditional sports that might be more popular, you know, in parts of Europe and Asia, as well as like, you know, card trading games, right? Like Pokemon and Magic the Gathering and all of that is just exploding in popularity too. So we're getting more of that up there to satisfy the demand. But that's also bringing the dealers. So Shane, let's get to the good stuff. What's new at the national in 2026 in Shaitown, Chicago, right outside, I mean, we're right there in the big city, Brian's hometown. What's new at the national this year? Yeah, well, I mean, I already mentioned the hall G. I would say that's one big focal point. So like, you know, last year's experiment is this year's shiny new toy. So this year, you go up those escalators and in the hall G, you're going to see an experience and feel an experience that wasn't there last year with so many new dealers, dealers that like I said that are doing TCG and international stuff. So that's one big thing that's going to be new and different. I will say another thing that I know is going to be bigger and better this year than last year is, you know, we have a stage of our own that we program throughout the course of the five days. And that stage called the Mike Berkis stage, which is an interview to an individual that was huge in the hobby years ago. It was kind of tucked away in the main hall last year. We've brought it up into hall G for this year. And so when you walk through those doors, you look to the left and that's that big horse shoe I was talking about with 150 new tables. To the right of it is going to be a much, I would say, higher end diversion of that stage. I think the quality of the programming that you're going to see on that stage this year, I feel is going to be a little bit closer to the experience, Brian, that you probably had when you walked into trade nights, right? And saw some of the cool stuff that was going on on the trade night stage, which is also going to be bigger and better this year than last. So, and then finally, there's going to be an installation that we're in the process creating right now. Not really a liberty to talk too much about it yet, but I'll tease it a little bit. Oh, come on Shane. Break it right here. Break news here on collection. I would love to break it. I'd love to break it for you. We'll take it easier. I'll tease it two ways. One is, this is the 46th year of the national. You know, we are closing in on 50 years of being there. 50 is a big number. It's going to be a big number for us. And I think you're going to see a lot of really cool stuff coming from us in the coming years. But there's a bit of a nod to that and the history of it. And the other tease I will give you is like, I can say the world's largest cardboard candy store. And it's one thing to say that's not who it is. So we'll have more to share when we got more to share. But we've got some fun, some fun interactive stuff. And then, you know, I'd close it out by saying like, in terms of new stuff, like shiny new stuff, I feel like our corporate partners. You know, so I'll call out eBay, for example, because they're a massive, you know, amazing partner of ours. I feel like last year, a lot of our corporate partners really started to get an understanding of what they should and could be doing from an activation standpoint at the show itself that gave them the most ROI on those investments and excited fans in the best way. And what I'm hearing and what I'm seeing from some of the planning that's going on from that standpoint this year, I think people are going to be even more excited to be on the show floor. Like I would say every day of the show this year, there are going to be multiple reasons why you would want to be at that show that day. You know, like last year, for example, I think it was Thursday. Yeah, I think it was Thursday. You know, you know, Tom Brady, just showing up promoting Tom Brady Card Vault, right? Because they were opening the one in Rigglyville across street from Rigglyfield. On Addison that evening, you know, and you know, people don't have an opportunity to be around guys like that that often. You know, we're never going to be, you know, a show that is focused on celebrity and all of that as the main attraction. You know, it's always going to be focused on the hobby, but there are cool moments that do happen, right? And I expect to see a lot more of that this year than even last year. So, you know, it's a, it's a good reason to buy a five day pass, which brings me to that. So just a few things for people to keep in mind if you haven't bought tickets yet, and you are on the fence about going by now, by now, by now. I'll give you a reason why you should buy now. We have four packages that we sell, right? At the very high end, we have what we call an all-access VIP five day. And that buys you a lot of stuff, right? You know, including celebrity athlete autograph signings that you wouldn't have to buy tickets to because they're including your package and all that. So five day pass. Last year, those passes sold out. I want to say, sometime in June, late June, we sold them out in early March this year. So, that was our most expensive package and they'll go on and they've been gone since the beginning of March. The next package, I know, right? The next one is a basic VIP, which is like, it's not, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the all-access VIP, but it's still a great pass, right? Great five day pass with some bells and whistles to it. I expect those to be sold out maybe in the next week. We didn't sell those out last year until almost the start of the show. Just to give you some perspective on it, so like, it is the demand, it is through the roof and a lot of and where we're seeing the most growth this year is people switching from just buying a day pass to buying five full days. Because, you know, the premise is that a lot of people went and realized there's just no way that I'm going to get a full experience going for, you know, eight hours. So, they're, they're buying five day passes, and I think there's a lot of reasons, a lot of good reasons why you want to do that. Once basic VIP is sold out, I still do have five day early emptying. Those are still available. And then, single day passes, which started 25 bucks. So, just $25. There you go. And I'll tell you that. Oh, yeah. Talked with shame when he is building every day as a hobby holiday for the national. That should be all tagline, by the way. You can have that for me. Well said. You sound like a marketer. Brian, I mean, you've been, I was, I had the pleasure, you know, of just being a participant last year, a little bit. And, you know, you guys partnering with the national and the Lutx lounge. And I'd love to get, I mean, you've talked a little bit, but what's Lutx doing? Hit the national this year. I mean, it's pretty similar to last year. I mean, we, we kind of get our marching orders from, you know, Jimmy Joe, really Jimmy and Brian. And then working with really close with, with Dave and Marino, who's just absolutely, yeah, one of the most talented people that, and I've worked with. And so, you know, having that, and I think Shane mentioned earlier, like, there's a lot more corporate people that want to be part of the trade night and the VIPs experience. And so, really, what Lutx is, we're there to facilitate and drive as much value for those VIP tickets and that VIP experience that we can. And that's what we want to do. We want to add technology. We want to add our brand. We also want to add value to, you know, everyone that walks through those doors. So, that's kind of the pillars that Lutx is all about. In fact, I'm up here now doing at the Canadian National in Toronto. So, it's the Toronto Expo. And I'll report back, but I think it's probably mostly hockey and then a Pokemon. But, you know, with an eye of maybe bringing up that VIP experience up here to work with Steve Menzies at some of his shows. So, yeah, I'm excited for the opportunity and blessed to be part of it. That's a great show. Yeah, that's a great show. I'll say this, you know, I got the fortunate ability of knowing the right people and having the right friends to do the VIP. I didn't, I would have been satisfied without it, but let me tell you, it felt VIP. So, yeah, because the show's amazing. And the float being on the floor is a different energy. And you get all of that. And at least $25. Good God, I double that. But I'm just saying, we're a ticket. Oh my God. It's worth that. And it's worth, it's worth 4X that because of the just the quality of the vendors and the experience in one day. But the VIP is, it was done right. That's all I could say. And that's great to hear. Yeah, it felt different. Like, I think the, what, what is it? I mean, could you pay more, but do you get more? It felt different. I mean, I guess that's the biggest thing I could say. And that's what you want it to feel like, right? And it's just because you pay, like, sometimes you ride the roller coaster and sometimes ride the Ferris wheel. I like the Ferris wheel. It's pretty fun. But damn, that roller coaster is fun. You know, I'm just saying. It can't just be a swag bag, right? Yeah, it wasn't the swag bag. I'll just say for me, the people I got to talk to was worth it alone. Now, I mean, I'm, you know, it's a business thing for me. But like, but the trade nights, the VIP, all that stuff, first class, um, Shane, you've been gracious with your time. I only else I didn't hear that we talked for you. It's something about autographs, maybe. Oh, yeah, there's a few of those. Yeah, I think there might be a chance to get a few more autos this year at the national. A little birdie told me, uh, talk about that. I know as we, as we sort of close out what, what that experience is and what that opportunity is. Yeah. So, so first the experience. So our, our good partner for many years, TriStar, um, runs what's called the TriSare Pavilion. And that's a portion of, uh, one of the halls, one of large halls. And that is where you can go, you buy tickets, buy athletes, celebrity, whatever you want to call them, mostly retired players. So like, think Carrie Bradshaw as example, right? Or Mike Tyson, those are two names that we announced, in the last couple of weeks, um, well over 100 over the course of five days. And you can bring memorabilia of your own. It could be a card, it could be a jersey, it could be a footfall, but something related to that individual, um, and they're doing autograph signings. So they'll sign their autograph onto, onto that particular item for you. Um, we just had tickets go on sale, um, for autograph signings last Tuesday. So before last Tuesday, you weren't able to buy a ticket to get in line to get Dennis Rodman signed a bulls jersey today you can. So if you, if you go to nstcshow.com, you will find, uh, at the very top, um, it says autograph pavilion. And if you click that, you go right directly to a page for ticketing. I mean, you can buy tickets for all of the athletes that have been announced to date. You can see all the names of the athletes there as well. I think we're probably at least 50 that we've announced now. We did a big announcement three weeks ago in advance of ticket sales, um, of like, I think there's like 36 athletes at the time. Um, but most people attending the show will have, we'll find that there are multiple people on stage that they would love to get an autograph from. And to do that, you've got to buy a ticket that, you know, the ticket alone to get into the event does not get you into a line, um, ticket an autograph. That's a separate ticket. Um, and the price is very depending on who it is. You're, yeah, you're, you're trying to get a signature from, but it's an amazing way to get up close and personal, um, with people that you've probably never been in the same room with before. And I will say having spent a lot of time over there last year, um, the men and women who are signing have a great time doing it. Like they, the video footage that we have last year of, of, of folks signing and they're just smiling like crazy, like, and, and, and it's crazy to watch what goes on there because you'll get athletes who know other athletes, but may not have seen them in years. And suddenly they're sitting next to each other and like they're getting up and they're giving each other high fives and hugging and, and all that stuff. So like they're enjoying the experience themselves because like, you know, you're Mariana Rivera and you turn your head and spike lia standing behind you and he's like, Hey, what's going on? Right? So like it's, it's, it's, it's fascinating, um, to watch all that stuff. So yeah, thanks for bringing that up tickets are on sale for that now. And those sell out pretty quickly too. That's a big deal. And a great opportunity at a great event. Uh, I can tell you this much. I'm, I'm doing like two events all year with the store open and everything like that. And the only one that I can't miss is the national and vaccination will be there. Brian and Brian, the LudEx team everybody will all be there. Uh, Hey, what's up guys? It is our on it segment of the week. We had a huge draft in a field draft came and went. It's funny how the news cycle works. It's coming gone, Leonard, but hey, a huge night for all the drafts picks. And of course, all the on it athletes. Yeah, big nine for us. Uh, our first ever number one overall pick that signs with us in Fernando, Mendoza. We talked about it last week. That was kind of a foregone conclusion that, uh, Mendoza was going to number one overall the Raiders. So super exciting moment for him, super exciting moment for us. And then just everybody else that got drafted. I mean, the turnout that we saw from having, you know, over 50% of the guys who at some point in their collegiate careers had an on it card, whether it was 2023 or 2024 or 2025. Uh, I don't think it could have gone much better for us, honestly, right? No, it couldn't have. And you know what, you know what, it had me thinking because watching the draft and I was kind of checking my checklist from last week of the on it athletes, what's going maybe that I'm not trying to hire way your employees, but they the scouts, uh, and on it are doing pretty good nailing the athletes in it up, uh, uh, being the rock stars and getting drafted. So huge night. I do have, and this is why you need to be watching it on YouTube. We do audio video, of course, our YouTube channel has been growing a lot, but you need to see this. This is Fernando Mendoza, who was pick number one. I did pick this up on it. It's got the refraction silver refractors and gorgeous card, uh, his player of the year card from on it. So again, I had to have a piece of that. I tried to get an auto, but somebody was just mad and loved with it. I was going to go up to 500 Leonard, but that was, how is that going to go? Yeah, I mean, Mendoza's market is hot right now. Uh, as you can imagine, I mean, you probably saw the breakdown of like all the, uh, the now cards that were created and like it was miles between Mendoza and Jeremiah love. Uh, he was second on that list. So, uh, the Mendoza hype is very real. I've seen him on a couple of interviews, too. He's just a good kid. Like, I think there's a lot of reasons to root for him. And I think that's part of the big poll. Uh, you know, everybody just feels so enamored with him because he's the kind, he's the type of guy that you, if you, you know, if you're a parent, you want your son to grow up and be. He's just that, he's just that type of kid. He's quality all the way around. And I hope he has an amazing career in the NFL with the Raiders, or if it doesn't work out there, wherever he has to go to having an amazing NFL career. Big night for the draft, big night for Mendoza and a big night for on it in that talent pipeline. Let's talk some softball, man. What's happening? Yeah, we've got a lot going on on the softball field, including, uh, the USA softball player, the year short list just got cut down. It was at 50 this week on Wednesday to cut it down to 25. And once again, we are all over that, uh, 17 out of the 25 players on the new short list are all with on it schools. They're either in products. And then we have nine who sign as well, including, you know, players from Oklahoma, UCLA, Florida, uh, Texas Tech, all these teams inside the top five, 10 in the country, Jordy From from Nebraska as well, the pitcher utility player. Softball is doing big things. It just dropped on Wednesday too, as well. So you can finally actually chase after some of these players, uh, our release came out and kind of coincided with the USA softball player, the year, and it looks like based on the numbers, the player of the year for USA softball is going to be on an athlete. For a product standpoint, I think we've talked about, you know, the Oklahoma machine, uh, before, but is there one that that sells better than another as far as from school to school? I mean, the ones that are like just constantly pumping it out more than you think, not necessarily more than you think. I don't think you would be surprised, but pretty much anything Ohio State is, you know, hard to come by, especially Ohio State. The big alumni schools, they're around. They want to support them. Yeah, Texas, another big alumni school, you know, uh, those get snapped up Michigan, uh, definitely a lot of places that we see snapped up. UCLA is certainly, uh, turning the corner. Me and Bella actually talked about it a little bit this year, like the resurgence that UCLA is at after falling off pretty hard, uh, from all non basketball sports. They've got the number one team in the country in baseball. They have a top 10 softball team, the national champions and women's basketball. Uh, if football could figure it out, UCLA is seriously in the fold as one of the best all around schools in the country. And I mean, there's all that talked about the men's basketball and all the titles that they've won, of course, under John Wooden and history of excellence, conference champions, all that stuff in the pack 12, which they're not in anymore, but uh, UCLA is definitely a sleep routine to me. I think in terms of, uh, the sports that maybe people don't fully let capture their attention. I think UCLA is a, a sleeper pick there for me. I think what's, what's interesting to me and I think it's probably says more about maybe societal interest in sport in general, but I think women's sports ratings around across the board are actually up. Uh, I have seen that data. You've seen it in W NBA. You've seen the contracts increasing. And I think quite frankly, we just are so tired of crappy content that we love sport as Americans. And we love to support our athletes and fandom and all that. And that's why I love about what on it does is, you know, is that continuation. You know, you've got pro. You got these guys. Yeah, they're all getting paid some a lot now, but but a lot of these honored athletes that are on maybe secondary sports from football basketball get supported by on it, get supported by these cards, get supported by name image likeness. And so get out there. Collect your favorite team. Find a team. You don't want to watch that crappy YouTube video that's like the, you know, silly thing that means nothing. Get the sports on, get competitive, get the juices going. We love what on it's doing. Any final thoughts for today, uh, Leonard. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think you're right. And the biggest thing I've talked about in multiple times is like the opportunity to support those athletes that are not going to be six figure, seven figure professional athletes, but the opportunity, you know, for the kids who have a 4.0 GPA and they pinch run, uh, you know, the opportunity for them to get a little bit of NIL money from what we do is kind of really what we're all about and to connect, you know, fans and athletes through these collectibles. That's really what the collectible journey is about, right? Like, you don't collect cards just to collect trading cards. You collect cards because they have some sort of personal value to you, whether it's the team logo or whether it's the name on the card. Um, and I so, so I think for us, it's not only that about the team logo, the school logo and the name on the card, but it's also about maybe players that you're seeing in your own backyard that you've actually personally interacted with while they go to school and you think, Hey, that's a nice kid, you know, I really liked them. I want to collect their cards. So I think that what we do it on it or hopefully what we do and hopefully it reaches everybody out there is that we let you go a little bit further in the collectible space than just grabbing a logo and a name of a player that you've never met, but they play for your favorite team. And once the rookie deals done, they're going to sign the biggest contract they can anywhere else. So 100% well said, my friend. And hey guys, look, your local retailers Walmart carries these things, other local retailers in your area collector station here in South Carolina carries it. And of course, the full selection at on it athlete.com. You use that code collector nation collector nation. One word get 15% off your first order. And again, you'll be glad for the hits, but you'll be supporting the athletes where it matters. We appreciate Leonard and on it and our partnership ongoing. They're doing great things and look secondary markets out there too. Baby, I'm telling you, this Mendoza is going in the PC. Get out there, support on it. We'll talk again soon. Any final thoughts or questions, Brian, before we let Shane get out of here? No, Shane, thank you for making the experience such such a great experience. I know you work really hard and it's a, you know, it's great to work with you and partner with you on many, many things. Yeah, you guys have been a great partner and we we appreciate that and you know, that the VIP lounge, I think, was a great experience last year. I'm looking forward to it again. This here, thanks for having me and let me plug a little bit. But for everybody watching, if you're not coming to the national, you're missing out. Yes, you are. Phomo is real. Shane, one last time website, social media, et cetera, for the national. Yeah. So any social platform that you're on, we're on, right? And so it doesn't matter if it's Instagram or X or our Facebook or TikTok, like we're all there, easy to find. NFCC show is typically a good place to start in terms of a search on that stuff. The website is nscco.com and that is a great place to find all the information that you need about the show, how to get here, where to stay, all of that stuff. Love it, man. Really appreciate you for coming on and hey, guys, look, thecollectoration.com. That's where you'll find this entire audio and video. We appreciate you on YouTube. We're growing fast over there. Number three in sports on Apple this week. We love you. We appreciate you and look, you haven't experienced the hobby until you've experienced the national. We'll see next time on thecollectoration. Thanks for tuning into the show. Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us atcollectoration.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryanalford. Now get out there and collect yours.