Cities race to add convention and trade show space

Tuesday, May 26, 1998 | 9:35 a.m.

After 13 years, the nation's second largest trade show, the Super Show, is threatening to leave Atlanta for larger digs.

"The problem is that we have run out of space," says John Riddle, president of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, which owns the show.

It's a familiar dilemma for cities competing for convention dollars. The revenue the shows generate can be huge -- the Super Show's weeklong run pumps an estimated $80 million into Atlanta's economy each February -- but host cities are at the mercy of the convention industry's seemingly insatiable appetite for more exhibition space.

At least eight of the nation's largest 10 convention centers hope to expand in a trend experts say is fueled mainly by pressure from clients crying out for more room.

To Riddle, one of the reasons the shows are getting so large is because they are attracting more international visitors. Of the roughly 100,000 who attended the show this year, about 25,000 were from other countries, he said.

Others point to the booming economy and the recent trend of consolidating shows. Many shows are large by design in the hope that sheer size will generate excitement.

"Definitely, you want it to be a major event," Riddle says.

The Super Show is certainly that. This year, attendees crammed the Georgia World Congress Center -- massive by any standard at 950,000 square feet -- and spilled over into the Georgia Dome and temporary pavilions.

The Super Show will be back next year, and again in 2000, but after that Riddle is noncommittal. Even though Georgia lawmakers recently approved $10.5 million for design of a 500,000-square-foot addition to the World Congress Center that should open in 2002, the Super Show is poised to leave for the planned World Expo Center in Kissimmee, Fla.

The $1.1 billion World Expo Center boasts that it will be the largest convention facility in North America when it is completed in 2000. It is designed with 2.4 million square feet of exhibition space and the potential for an additional 1 million square feet.

Construction is due to begin this summer, and Riddle said the Super Show will relocate to Kissimmee if the structure is built.

Citywide, Las Vegas has more than 4.2 million square feet of convention space with an additional 1.8 million square feet expected to be completed at several properties within three years.

Kevin Bagger, a senior research analyst with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said the 6 million square feet total probably would put Las Vegas among the top cities in the nation. Many convention authorities, he said, don't track total convention space within their cities, making it difficult to compare.

By single facility, the 1.6 million-square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center will rank as the third largest in the nation when its current expansion is completed next fall. Bagger said Chicago's McCormick Center ranks first at 2.2 million square feet. It would be surpassed by Kissimmee's World Expo Center (2.4 million square feet).

Close behind Las Vegas are centers in Atlanta and Anaheim, Calif., both at 1.4 million square feet and both in the process of expansion, Bagger said.

Cities hoping to stake a claim for the largest shows increasingly find themselves having to compete on such a scale.

Of course, size isn't everything. Cities must have the necessary amenities, including enough hotel rooms, rental cars and a large enough airport to handle the traffic. Las Vegas has the most hotel rooms of any convention host, with about 105,000. That will increase by 20,000 by 2001.

Like many observers, Facilities Magazine associate publisher Mark Gold believes only a relatively small number of cities will eventually be able compete at the first tier level.

"I would say a minimum of half a dozen," he said. But other cities will still be able to make money.

"There's a lot of business to have on the second tier level."

Many cities don't even count on making money through the convention center itself, considering the facility's main function to be a job maker. Restaurants, hotels and rental car companies get their cut too.

The International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus in Washington D.C. found delegates at trade shows spent an average of $200 per day in 1996 on expenses.

Only time will tell if the current enthusiasm for trade shows is a trend or if its here to stay. Supporters say the shows represent a permanent change in the way of doing business. Companies are finding it is cheaper to close a deal at a trade show than pay a salesmen to go on the road, they say.

In any case, owners of the largest halls don't have to worry about justifying the expansions, said Canton Robert, the senior manager at Price Waterhouse's Convention and Congress Center and Advisory Group.

"The outlook for the near term at least, there is no reason to expect that the growth is going to waiver," he says.