Chicago’s convention business won’t recover merely on a hope and a prayer
With the looming threat of a recession, Chicago’s convention and trade show business has an uphill climb this year — but there are also signs of meaningful recovery from those nightmarish pandemic lows when conventioneers became an endangered species in Chicago.
The events calendar at McCormick Place is getting full again, and the corporation that owns the huge lakefront exhibition center predicts that more than 2.5 million people will visit it this year, as the Tribune’s Brian J. Rogal reported. While that number is still far below pre-pandemic levels of nearly 3 million visitors, those crowds would represent a huge comeback from the 678,054 brave souls who visited during 2021.
Conventions are vital for the city’s hotels, restaurants, retail outlets and entertainment venues. McCormick Place alone provided an estimated economic impact of more than $2 billion annually at its pre-pandemic peak.
To get the money train rolling again, Chicago needs to do more than cross its fingers, which is mainly what we see happening. The city needs to recognize that it’s in a pitched battle for these shows and own up to the factors weighing against it when event organizers decide on destinations.
Consider the Specialty Food Association, which just held its Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas, one of Chicago’s biggest competitors for A-list convention
business, along with Orlando, New York, San Diego and Atlanta.
As recently as 2007, the same group held a show at McCormick Place. It left not because of hard feelings about Chicago, but because its members wanted to stay closer to the coasts, and pushed for two annual events, one in Sin City and another in the Big Apple.
If the group ever decided to consolidate its two annual shows into one, McCormick Place, with its central location, would be a logical compromise. So, it was painful to hear Bill Lynch, its president, saying that he recalls no one from McCormick Place contacting the group since its
departure from Chicago years ago. Lynch and his colleagues get regular sales pitches from convention venues around the country, he said.
Just not from us.
Of Vegas, Lynch said: “They see the bigger picture. Vegas leans so much into shows and entertainment … not making money from the trade show alone. There’s a balance to be struck there.” He’s right.
A painful truth is that conventions have bounced back faster nationwide than in Chicago. After collapsing in 2020 for obvious reasons, attendance across the country ticked up slightly in 2021, according to the Center for Exhibition
Industry Research. At the same time, attendance was still sinking at McCormick Place, as Illinois’ COVID-19 shutdowns persisted. The exhibition business generally goes where the space, dates and rates are most attractive, and, apart from the pandemic anomaly, attendance tracks closely with the economy, according to Cathy Breden, CEIR’s chief executive officer.
Besides those factors, showrunners go where attendees most want to go, and the image of a city is crucial for winning hearts and minds.
The current perception of Chicago as crime-ridden is a big strike against it. The same goes for the annoying distance between McCormick Place and downtown. Not everyone loves bracing cold weather and, of course, there’s the relatively high cost — especially when McCormick Place trade unions do their best to kill the golden goose by nickel-and-diming anyone they can.
Still, Chicago has a central location, good transportation, an amazing skyline and desirable things to do, including our worldclass music, theater and food scenes. And while it’s true that the pandemic remains a threat, virtual meetings are here to stay and travel budgets have been slashed, there is pent-up demand for businesspeople to get together in person.
At the Specialty Food Show in Las Vegas, exhibitors like Jeremy Klein of Chicago’s Think Jerky believe the convention business is “starting to come back,” he said.
Chef Stephanie Izard of Chicago’s Girl and The Goat, who was showing off her This Little Goat line of grocery products, observed that in-person confabs are “such a great way to meet people from all over.” And as Bill Thurner, director of sales and marketing at candymaker Albanese Confectionery Group in Merrillville, Indiana, pointed out, “You can’t sample food in a Zoom meeting.”
Part of McCormick Place, the aging Lakeside Center, was part of one of city’s casino proposals; the city chose elsewhere but the casino plan was revealing as its backers pledged to cover an astonishing $500 million in deferred maintenance.
Lakeside Center needs a total reboot, and it is in the best interests of the city and state to make it happen.
Chicago has economic-development priorities besides McCormick Place, of course.
We’re deeply concerned about the collapse of the Mag Mile retail strip, the future of Soldier Field (assuming the Chicago Bears take off for Arlington Heights, as planned) and downtown’s vast expanse of vacant office space. All of these issues are vital to the future of the city.
Whether it’s incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot, or one of her many lively opponents in the upcoming election, whoever leads the city in the years to come needs to put the convention and tourism industry near the top of the to-do list — and go out and sell the city better than in the past.
And bring in the business.