Slow Opening for Extreme Action Sports Show in Long Beach

The Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif., was host to the newest show for action sports, the Extreme Action Sports Show (EAS), June 21–24. In a presentation divergent from established action sports shows such as Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo (ASR), EAS sought to combine both the consumer and trade sides of expositions.

According to Darren Roberts, president of Extreme Action Sports of America, the show’s overall attendance of 4,800 fell short of the projected 25,000. Roberts said that one of the main reasons for the low traffic was the lack of coverage by local TV news shows.

“On the exhibitor side [101 exhibitors were at the show], we were right there, but on the attendee side, we were way lower than what we expected,” said Roberts. “We should have had the media attention with the Motocross guys jumping fire trucks and stuff, and in my experience, not being on the local news stations really hurt.”

At the show, Mack Carlson, a sales rep for Porn Star, said that while the traffic was slow, EAS can grow to work in conjunction with MAGIC International in Las Vegas for his line, because the latter event is more retail-oriented, but both exhibitions provide different access to their target audience.

“This is the scene we want to target,” said Carlson. “The new owners are doing a lot of promotions, trying to get the hardcore skate presence.”

Carlson also said that while there was no real retail presence at the show, he still saw it as a prime opportunity to interact with consumers.

“This show is going really well,” said Carlson. “I made some calls to retailers, but this is still a chance to give back to the public because we have shirts on sale for 10 bucks instead of 25 or 30 like they usually are.”

Roberts noted that EAS didn’t do a great deal of soliciting to retailers this year. “This is not the place for business-to-business, but since people have new products on the floor, the retailers should come to check it out,” he said. “I see the trade aspect growing next year, although that’s not our focus.”

Shane Austin, owner of Big Belly Crew Clothing, said that the show worked well for his company, since it mainly shows at consumer-oriented events.

“We’re here just to promote our product,” said Austin. “I have some Motocross freestyle guys who are jumping outside. Our outlook is to try to have a good time because we’re serious about what we do, but at the same time we try to do what we can to enjoy things.”

Roberts said that based on surveys conducted of the attendees, the organizers of the show have a good base for next year’s plan.

“The 5,000 [attendees] were enough to get a pretty honest survey and enough to get a good idea for next year’s show,” he said. “We drew mostly from radio, so we’ll use that to drive up attendance, but for the next show we’re staying on course. Our mission is to educate the public on all the new products and sports on the market and we provide a forum for them to try all these new things out.”

During the show, companies were providing product demonstrations as well as testing opportunities for rock climbing, kayaking, skateboarding, dirt biking and related products, such as bodybuilding and nutritional supplements.

Roberts said that many of the manufacturers who showed at EAS found sampling to consumers a great way to test-market before distribution.

“We give the manufacturers a place to take their new products when they can’t get them in the stores right away,” said Roberts. “We surveyed our exhibitors, and everybody told us that traffic was light, but they wanted to come back to the show again. We still believe in the market and our passion is in the action sports industry.”