The Progressive Motorcycle Shows died a similar death due to the organizer's greed.
For the show-goers, the unwashed rabble who just wanted to walk around and look at and buy motorcycle stuff, the costs didn't change all that much. Ticket prices went up a bit, but generally stayed reasonable.
But in the space of a few years, the costs for the booth spaces were raised dramatically. And so the number of exhibitors went down dramatically, because no one (even the title sponsor, Progressive insurance) actually makes all that much money in the US motorcycle industry.
Dozens of small companies making and selling really interesting, unique products, many little more than a good idea and a guy in his garage, were priced right out. And the death spiral began.
Fewer riders went to the shows because there weren't many exhibitors, and the ones that were there stopped offering show discounts, stopped giving out good swag, and generally drastically cut costs in order to afford a booth.
As ticket sales decreased, the organizers increased booth costs to make up for the shortfall, and the whole thing shriveled and died.
They tried to blame COVID (there were attempts at outdoor shows in 2021), but it was pretty much dead by 2019; half the booths were Chinese **** unrelated to motorcycling, like pork rinds, magic insoles, sunglasses, tacky cheap leather vests, t-shirts, mall ninja junk, vegetable slicers, and the like, and even then the show covered less than half the space.
I was a regular at the Chicago shows for many years. Not much else to do in February, and I always showed up with money I was itching to spend on the plentiful show deals. The last few years, the show deals and unique products had entirely dried up, and I didn't manage to spend a dime.
Here's hoping SEMA doesn't kill the goose like that...
