Las Vegas, NV – Nielsen Expositions added a fast-growing trade show dedicated to sports licensing and tailgate parties to its portfolio of sports-related events, which have been seeing an increase in licensing activity of their own.
Nielsen Holdings N.V. announced in January it acquired The Sports Licensing & Tailgating Show from ShowProCo, LLC and would add it to Nielsen’s roster of established shows with synergism potential, including the Outdoor Retailer brand, Interbike, Health & Fitness Business Expo and Imprinted Sportswear Shows. The transaction also gives Nielsen the ownership of the Tampa-based Tailgating Industry Association.
ShowProCo is a Miami organizing company headed by Stanley Schwartz and Hardy Katz, best known for their leadership on The Super Show, one of the 50 largest trade shows in the U.S. that ended its run in 2008. ShowProCo will manage the 2013 Tailgating Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 17-19 after which Nielsen will finalize a plan to incorporate the ShowProCo staff into the Nielsen fold, according to Nielsen Expositions President and CEO David Loechner.
Nielsen expects the Tailgating Show to maintain the upward momentum is has experienced in its six years of existence. The 2012 show reported 59,000 net square feet (nsf) of exhibit space, an 18.4% increase over 2011. Attendance was also up 6.3% to just under 8,000. The 2013 edition is expected to cover 66,000 nsf.
The growth was cited by ShowProCo last year as part of the reason it was moving from Mandalay Bay to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and shifting its January show dates to after the International Consumer Electronics Show. The LVCC was also considered to be “more conducive to cooking demos,” Show Director Hardy Katz said at the time. (See Trade Show Executive, March 2012 issue).
Loechner said the double-digit growth was an established pattern for the Tailgating Show and was appealing to current Nielsen exhibitors that were also involved in the licensing of logos and trademarks.
Darryl Denny, senior vice president for business development at Nielsen, said the show was becoming a must-attend for companies and manufacturers that sell a wide range of clothing and other products creatively decorated with emblems from professional and collegiate teams. “The Sports Licensing and Tailgating Show is a premier trade event and we are very excited to add it to our sports portfolio,” he said.
“We have a significant amount of licensing activity already taking place at our shows and we are eager to present this opportunity to our manufacturing, distribution and retail clients.”
ShowProCo said in its 2012 show report that 20% of the crowd was made up of distributors and sales rep groups and 19% represented pro and college teams plus their campus book stores and stadium concessionaires. Another 17% represented souvenir and gift shops and 14% were from sporting goods stores.
Reach David Loechner at (949) 226-5700 or david.loechner@nielsen.com; Darrell Denny at (949) 226-5700 or darrell.denny@nielsen.com; Hardy Katz at (305) 893-8771, x107, or hardy@csmipi.com
