wishing to build relationships and assess the state of the industry. The Covid crisis however changed the old ways of thinking and the method with which golf business is conducted. The PGA projected the 2022 show would be somewhat smaller than the last one held onsite in 2020, but long-time show attendees were surprised by this year’s dramatic smaller size. Comments about companies staying away due to the unknowns around the progress of the pandemic miss the point. These decisions are made often months in advance and generally are not subject to the latest headlines on the evening news about infection rates and other data. It is simply much less costly to keep the sales staff at home, not pay for expensive exhibitor space and still make sales virtually. Surprising Numbers *Figures are not available at this writing, but a reasonable guesstimate is one-half the number of attendees—in the range of 20,000, but it was probably below 50%. *The show’s website listed 578 exhibitors compared with roughly 1,000 in recent years. Plus, several exhibitors decided not to come at the last minute. *Demo Day often has had 100 participating companies and this year a mere 40 were on hand. *Normally 10,000-15,000 attend the Demo Day. This year that number was under 1,000. *Of the 12 largest equipment companies only Bridgestone exhibited and two of the largest apparel companies, Nike and Adidas, chose not to have displays. Last Gasp The question then becomes, ‘Was this the last gasp of a dying event and have large trade shows lost their viability and relevance?’ We are not sure the small attendance of the 2022 PGA Show can be seen as an adequate predictor of future events, but changes are needed.
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