Card Show Weekend August 21-23: Collect-A-Con Charlotte, Anaheim, and a Friday Flagship Football Drop

Last weekend was a big one, with Collect-A-Con in San Antonio and The Hobbit release day pulling collectors in two directions. This coming weekend is quieter on the TCG side and busier on the sports side, and it opens with a Friday product release that will change what dealers have in their cases.

Here is what is on the calendar for August 21 through 23, 2026.

The Big One: Collect-A-Con Charlotte

Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, NC. Saturday August 22, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday August 23, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Collect-A-Con bills itself as the nation's largest trading card, anime, and pop culture convention, and the Charlotte stop carries more than 900 dealer tables. That scale is the reason to go: it is one of the few rooms in the country where you can work a Pokemon want list, a One Piece want list, and a vintage sports want list in the same afternoon without leaving the building.

Guests and Programming

• Christopher Judge (God of War, Black Panther, Stargate)
• Veronica Taylor (Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Super)
• Walter E. Jones (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
• Brad Swaile, Jason Griffith, Kaiji Tang, Luci Christian, and Terri Hawkes
• Soulja Boy performs live Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

A practical note about Collect-A-Con specifically: the autograph lines and the concert both pull foot traffic away from the dealer floor at predictable times. Saturday between 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. is historically the easiest stretch to actually negotiate with a dealer who has been slammed all morning.

West Coast: Collectors Expo Anaheim

Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA. August 22 to 23.

Collectors Expo skews harder toward sports and memorabilia than Collect-A-Con does. For Southern California collectors, this is the closest thing to a full-size show since Collect-A-Con Los Angeles at the start of the month.

Regional Shows Worth the Drive

• Cards & More Tour, Olathe, KS at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Kansas City Olathe, August 21 to 23. Note the Friday start, which is unusual for a hotel show and typically means an early-bird dealer setup day.
• Cards & More Tour, San Antonio, TX at the Hyatt Regency, August 22 to 23. San Antonio hosted Collect-A-Con last weekend, so expect local dealers to be carrying whatever did not sell in the convention center.
• Zanesville Sports & Pokemon Show, Zanesville, OH, August 22 to 23.
• Apex TCG Card Show, White Plains, NY, August 22 to 23.

The Friday Release That Changes the Floor

2026 Topps Flagship Football releases August 21, the day before most of these shows open. That matters more than it sounds. Flagship is a mass-market product with hobby, jumbo, value, mega, hanger, fat pack, and super box configurations, which means dealers will have wax to move at every price point from twenty dollars to several hundred.

If you are going to a show this weekend and you want Flagship, buy it Saturday morning rather than Sunday afternoon. Weekend-of-release wax at shows is priced against uncertainty on day one and against actual pull results by day two, and day two is usually the worse deal for buyers when a product opens well.

Show Etiquette Reminder

Two things that consistently separate people who leave a show happy from people who do not:

• Bring cash and small bills. Card payment fees get passed to you at almost every table, and a dealer who has to break a hundred for a fifteen dollar card is a dealer less inclined to move on price.
• Walk the whole floor once before you buy anything. At a 900-table show, the same card can vary by 30 percent from one aisle to the next. The first table you see is rarely the best price.

Show dates and hours change. Confirm directly with the organizer before you drive, especially for hotel shows, which occasionally shift rooms or dates on short notice.

Looking for something closer to home? Use The Card Shop Finder to search card shops and upcoming events in your area.