SHOT Show Will Stay at Sands Convention Center Through 2020

Grim news — SHOT Show will be held at the Sands Expo through year 2020. That means six (6) more years* at this “dog” of a facility infamous for its inadequate parking, confusing floor plans, and nightmarish ingress/egress through the Venetian hotel. Then there are the wonderful food courts (NOT). Oh and it’s hard not to think about the scores of people who get sick every year attending SHOT Show at the Sands. If you have been there, you know what we’re talking about. So SHOT Show fans, steel yourselves for six more years of the same sad situation.

Previously, NSSF, the show’s organizer, had agreed to keep SHOT Show at the Sands through 2017. That was bad enough. Now they’ve contracted for even more years at this place. That makes for six additional years of headaches, confusion, disorientation, and general discontent. Oh well…

Anyway, to our great dismay, here is the official notice:

LAS VEGAS-The National Shooting Sports Foundation and Sands Expo and Convention Center have followed up the 2014 record-setting Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) by adding another two years to their agreement.

Under the new terms, the SHOT Show will be presented at the Sands Expo through 2020.

The 2014 SHOT Show, which ran Jan. 14-17, attracted more than 67,000 in total attendance, an all-time high, and was the fifth consecutive SHOT Show held at Sands Expo. NSSF had previously announced, in February, that it was extending its stay at the venue through 2017.

“We’re pleased with the multi-million dollar investment that the Sands Expo has made in order to meet SHOT Show’s needs,” said Chris Dolnack, NSSF Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “The 2014 SHOT Show was the highest rated by both attendees and exhibitors alike, and we want to continue to build on our success here in Las Vegas.”

SHOT Show is the fifth largest trade show in Las Vegas and the largest trade show of its kind in the world.

“As one of the largest events we host at Sands Expo, it has been exciting to watch SHOT Show grow every year,” said Ashlyn LaPorte, Sands Expo Executive Director of Event Management. “We are proud of the partnership that has developed between our venue and show management, and look forward to continuing this relationship through the rest of the decade.”

The Sands Expo and Convention Center houses more than 2 million square feet of meeting and event space. The SHOT Show generates more than $73 million for the Las Vegas economy.

*The press release says “the SHOT Show will be presented at the Sands Expo through 2020″. In the English language, “through” is inclusive; e.g. “Monday through Friday” includes Friday. But then the release says the current contract, which runs through 2017, has been extended by “two years”. That would push the contract out to 2019, not 2020. Maybe you can figure this out… it doesn’t make sense to us. But then having SHOT Show at the Sands in the first place doesn’t make any sense to us at all.