How disappointing.

What good is a Billiard Congress of America Expo if there’s nothing to criticize?

To be sure, I’ve used my fair share of ink in the past citing shortcomings in the annual trade gathering, from underwhelming sites, to ill-conceived programs, to misreading its own research.

The truth, however, is that the overall success of the 2024 BCA Expo was a welcome site to all who exhibited and attended and should be a calling card for those whose skepticism (in large part justified) kept them from venturing to the Las Vegas Convention Center in late March.

The annual billiard and home gameroom trade fair, which just completed its 41st edition (if you count the Covid-induced “virtual trade shows”), has long been a barometer for the industry’s general health and future. And since the mid-2000s, the show’s forecast was grimmer by the year.

Then came billiards’ “Battle of 2022,” which divided an already shaky business base and resulted in dueling trade shows, with neither providing enough business to claim victory.

Sometimes, however, it takes a breakup for people to realize what they had when they were together.

That reconciliation came in the form of the 2024 BCA Expo, and despite the show’s still meager footprint, the energy and optimism that was evident throughout the exhibit hall was a breath of fresh air. For the first time in many years, the BCA Expo felt like a real trade show and looked like a hub for real business.

The key ingredient, of course, was having all of the industry’s main players under one roof at the same time. And that happened because those players at the very least agreed that an industry divided was a fast track to extinction — or at the very least, irrelevance.

Not since the pre-Covid 2019 Expo had all of the industry’s leading manufacturers and distributors convened under one roof to host business buyers. The Covid years of 2020 and 2021 were followed by two more years in which the industry was fractured by a battle between manufacturers who were hell bent on moving the show from its customary July timeslot to what they felt was a more efficient and effective springtime slot and BCA directors who insisted that the show remain in the summer. In 2022 and 2023, the rogue B.I.G. (Billiard Industry Group) subsequently aligned itself with the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Expo (HPBE), whose dates were set in March.

In 2022, the BCA stayed its course, hosting an undersized July Expo, after which the BCA directors ironically voted to move their show to March as well, returning to Vegas as a partner in the existing Amusement Expo International.

Again, the division only further crippled an already wobbly industry.

What industry leaders did agree on was that the two sides would need to return to the table to discuss a single show again. The only question was which side was going to serve as official host.

Manufacturers who had exhibited at both HPBE and BCA Expos in ’22 and ’23 were almost unanimous in favoring a continuation of the BCA’s new partnership with the Amusement Manufactures and Operators Association (AMOA) and the Amusement Expo International. The synergy with the amusement industry was much more in line with the amusement business than with the patio business, they argued. The B.I.G. members, having won their battle to stage the billiard expo in March, agreed to support the Las Vegas show.

And so, 55 companies linked arms — or booth spaces — in Las Vegas and presented a unified front for billiard dealers that had spent two years being pulled in different directions. And, to a dealer, the sigh of relief was hard to ignore.

Now, granted, a total of 55 exhibitors isn’t going to draw comparisons to the annual Consumer Electronics show. It’s not even going to draw comparisons to BCA Expo glory years with several hundred exhibiting companies.

But you know what? It looked and felt like a billiard show. By and large, those 55 exhibitors represented billiards as we know and love it. They were pool table manufacturers, cloth manufacturers, cuemakers, accessory suppliers. The BCA Expo wasn’t 50 percent pool and spa and outdoor furniture exhibitors, as had become the norm in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Additionally, a number of longtime billiard manufacturing giants were being led by new owners, bringing new energy and new ideas. Owners investing in new design and new products. Investing in the future.

Even the social element added to the expo was new and refreshing, an off-site party in a lavish clubhouse that was a welcome change from hotel hors d’oeuvres and bland air-walled ballrooms of the past.

The whole experience — dare I say it? — actually left me looking forward to 2025.

I don’t know. Two positive reviews in a row may tarnish the reputation I’ve worked so hard to achieve!