Ritz Carlton reporting

Per a guy I hunted with a couple of years ago, who's a life member...

They're renovating the KBH center, and can't have it in Dallas.

None of the places in Texas would give them a multi-year guarantee, and the DSC didn't want to move their equipment from city to city, preferring to store it on site.

Atlanta was big enough for them and had availability for the entire renovation period.

damn! is it that big? I have wanted to go, and plan to start going, just can't go this year due to being out of town.

City of Dallas kinda screwed them by giving them one timeline for the KBH project but then not starting from what I can remember.

Was hoping they could have moved it to the Gaylord in Grapevine but I am sure it wasn't big enough.

I would go every year it was in Dallas. Does anyone know when it is coming back? Next year of the year after?

Interesting. I guess I always thought DSC was a subsidiary of SCI. Didn't know it was a split.

Old work colleague of mine's father was a founder of the DSC. Their kill room at their home… coupled with the kill room at their ranch house was the most impressive thing I've ever seen.

No offense but it puts JapanTigers to shame.

Really makes you think.

It is so dumb for the industry to fight, but fight they do.

Too many idiots with too much money who love power.

Sorry for the DP

Datman said:

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It may never be back. Texas Trophy Hunters and Safari Club Intl took DSC's dates for a joint show in Dallas this weekend. If all goes well, they intend to hold an annual show in Dallas after the convention center is completed.

DSC was started long ago by some disgruntled SCI members. They have been rivals ever since. DSC has always had an advantage by virtue of their spot on the calendar. The exhibitors who show up at the DSC show would also go to Nashville for the SCI show later in January. By the time they got to SCI they wouldn't have any prime hunting dates for the next season. Sold them all in Dallas. It has been a real advantage for DSC.

I don't see TTHA and SCI ever giving up DSC's old dates. DSC got caught with their pants down. Atlanta was a really poor decision. Everyone (exhibitors, contributors, etc.) tried to warn them.

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Why is Atlanta a poor decision? Pretty much the most accessible city in the country.

Datman said:

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Sorry for the DP

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It was worth saying twice.

I'm chair of one of the committees for DSC. I didn't make it to the meetings when they were discussing the change of venue, so was as surprised as everyone else when they announced they were headed to Atlanta. A lot of the exhibitors were not real happy about moving to Atlanta. Like a whole lot of exhibitors. Personally, I would have made it however smaller it needed to be to keep it in DFW. The Dallas Safari Club having a convention in Atlanta has not avoided the number of jokes you would expect. But like I said, I didn't make it to the meetings so I'm not going to criticize the decisions that were made.

Datman said:

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In no particular order of importance:

1. Atlanta is a ****hole. Dallas is likely on its way to becoming one.

2. Exhibitors don't much care to be in the same region of the country for consecutive shows. SCI show is in Nashville in two weeks. A not insignificant number of them have elected not to go to Atlanta. They are in Dallas this weekend for the TTHA/SCI show. A few are working both shows this weekend. That's just among the ones I personally know.

3. DFW has a much larger local market for what exhibitors are selling.

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Also I would think Dallas is a lot more centrally located to all parts of the country if you were going to travel to the show. If there were a list of easiest cities to get too, if Atlanta was higher than Dallas I would be surprised but if it was they would be like 1a and 1b.

My company is there, and we have had two rifle sales total so far.

We will be at Sheep Show in Reno next and then Shot Show in Vegas.

A couple of my outfitters elected to skip entirely rather than go to Atlanta. A couple of others decided to stay in Dallas and attend the ttha/sci. The ones that did make it to Atlanta haven't liked it much so far from what I have been told.

I wouldn't be surprised if DSC decides to scale back and try to come back to Dallas next year after this. Not sure why they didn't tell all the jewelry and clothing companies to pound sand for a few years. Was really short sighted.

I believe they have a 3-4 year contract with Atlanta.

My contacts are at both DSC and TTH. Stretched thin, but gotta do what you gotta do.

why was it moved in the first place? I know Dallas is building additional space at the convention center, but isn't the current location still available? Plus, it seems like Dallas or Fort Worth should have a lot of potential places to house such a convention.

I was there Friday and Saturday. It was a ghost town on Friday. Saturday was a lite turnout in my many years of experience at DSC. The weather I'm sure played a significant role. We woke up to 6" of snow Friday morning and much of the city closed to the point we got stuck having dinner at the hotel. Saturday was no better as roads froze overnight. There was also a boat show next door. Many outfitters we talked with reported having a booth going at the competing show in Dallas as well. I would expect a great number of exhibitors to skip Atlanta next year baring some major development. In my estimation it is a failed experiment and we already decided that we won't be back as patrons in 2026 Atlanta.

Yep. Hearing of lots of unhappy vendors.

Should have kept it here in the metroplex.

Someone said the Gaylord was booked. What's wrong with BigTown? I'm only partly kidding.

I'd wager good money the auto halls at Fair Park were free.

The correct solution would have been to find a place nearby (in Dallas or Fort Worth), contracted with some bus services to help get vendors/attendees to the "less convenient" location from 4/5 hotels, and dealt with the minor inconvenience. Maybe tell newer/certain "non-hunting" vendors, that there simply wasn't enough room for them for this/a few years. Market Hall wasn't available??

Moving the whole thing to ATLANTA, just to have a large convention center, wasn't smart.

Flounder Dorfman said:

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I'll probably go to the post convention committee chair meeting. Should be very interesting. I know they have advertised three years of dates for the convention in Atlanta, but I don't know if they are contractually obligated to stay there. Or ways to get out if needed.

I'm looking at this thing though and I have concerns about its future as well. They just lost this weekend to TTHA/SCI going forward. They will either lose a lot of exhibitors by going back to Atlanta next year or cut down the number of exhibitors by moving to a smaller venue next year. Either way, it's going to look a lot different once it's back in DFW.

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I suggested via email months ago to DSC why not Globe Life Field in Arlington. Plenty parking and concessions Partition off rows on the field as isles, bring in a stage and weather out KBH redo. My emails were never responded to.

Either Arlington or Frisco would have rolled out the red carpet. My instinct is that DSC was treated poorly by the city of Dallas and Atlanta was a reaction.

TAMU77CLAY said:

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Flounder Dorfman said:

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I'll probably go to the post convention committee chair meeting. Should be very interesting. I know they have advertised three years of dates for the convention in Atlanta, but I don't know if they are contractually obligated to stay there. Or ways to get out if needed.

I'm looking at this thing though and I have concerns about its future as well. They just lost this weekend to TTHA/SCI going forward. They will either lose a lot of exhibitors by going back to Atlanta next year or cut down the number of exhibitors by moving to a smaller venue next year. Either way, it's going to look a lot different once it's back in DFW.

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I suggested via email months ago to DSC why not Globe Life Field in Arlington. Plenty parking and concessions Partition off rows on the field as isles, bring in a stage and weather out KBH redo. My emails were never responded to.

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That's really disappointing that you didn't get a response. From my experience with committees in other organizations, it seems like one person gets an idea, convinces a small group of friends to get on board and then they work to convince everyone else that their idea is the only feasible one. I wouldn't expect this process to have worked any differently. It's really the only way to get to this outcome. The basis for the move to Atlanta, from what I saw on my end, just didn't compute. I don't know of anywhere in Frisco that's a very good fit, but Arlington definitely is. Checks every box that you would want.

Looking back on it, I wish I had gotten more involved in the meetings discussing the relocation, but I didn't think that moving to Atlanta would be on the table. I was on the zoom call that discussed the reasoning behind it after it was announced and it still didn't make a lot of sense. I just hope they can get through this period intact because there are a lot of good people involved with good intentions.

We attended DSC in Atlanta Thursday and Friday. Thursday there were 1,600 exhibitors and 800 attendees. We had the booths to ourselves. We stayed at the Omni Convention Center and half their rooms were available because so few people could get there. Hartsfield was shutdown for a while and the roads were covered in snow and ice. We had a great time but hope the show returns to Texas soon. The exhibitors were so disappointed. The show was a disaster for almost all of them we spoke to.