Hugh,
MCA does not intentionally schedule it's National and Grand National Events to conflict with other major shows. The dates for National Shows are requested by the clubs applying for the shows with the exception of the GN. The host clubs make those choices. The Long Island Show in June of 2011, conflicted with the Mid-America Shelby gathering in Tulsa. Mid-America show staff contacted MCA and asked if we could move the Long Island show so as not to conflict with them. Unfortunately when the long Island Club applied for their show in 2009, no one knew there would be a conflict with the Mid-America meet. With contracts signed with venues and such, moving the event was simply not an option.

The Show Guidelines recommend that show dates are at least greater than 3 weeks away from another National Show. The GN has historically been held on Labor Day weekend. I can only recall two where it was not on Labor Day and I've been attending the National Shows since 1991. The club in Sturgis chose to have their event on Labor Day when they organized their first Rally a number of years ago. They subsequently applied for an MCA Charter and were granted one. They currently have an application pending for a National Show in 2014 that will also be on Labor Day weekend if approved. It will not be billed as a GN. There will not be an MCA GN in 2014 because of the 50th.

Of the Major sponsors you mentioned only Shelby is an MCA Corporate sponsor, but even at that, although we provide them with a list of MCA National Events, we can not force them to go to any particular event. We tell them that the host club will provide them space, advertisment, and promotion, but that said, their own marketing people tell them where to go to get the biggest bang for the buck. I feel you are being unfair to blame MCA for something it has no real control over.

Do we need to do a better job in the future? You bet. Will it be easy to put together a structure to prevent inequities? No, but we can try. Shorty Brown is now the National Show Chair and he and his committee will be looking at these and other issues to help prevent or eliminate them in the future.