The National 2026 live updates: Latest from today’s National Sports Collectors Convention outside Chicago

Started in 1980, The National is the longest running and largest sports collectors convention in the country. Although it is currently bigger than ever, the convention has gone through some rough spots over the years. In the book “Mint Condition” author Dave Jamieson documented his experience at the 2009 National in Cleveland.

“Along certain stretches of the hall there appeared to be almost as many sellers trying to unload things as there were customers trying to buy them,” Jamieson wrote. “One dealer told me that there was a time when collectors at the National lined up three deep at his table. ‘Not anymore,’ he said.”

“Most notably missing from the National were children,” he continued before quoting a dealer who lamented that kids no longer cared about cards and it would soon spell the death of the hobby.

But in 2026, that couldn’t be further from the truth. On Wednesday, the kids trade zone was packed and children were buying and selling cards all over the show floor, as they were last year too. The hobby is alive and another generation is fully engaged in it.