Sports Licensing & Tailgate Show 2027Exhibitor guide: booth costs, dates and deadlines

SLATS 2027 runs Wednesday, January 20 to Friday, January 22, 2027 in Las Vegas. The hall opens at 9 a.m. daily and shuts at 5 p.m. midweek, 2 p.m. on the final Friday, with badge pickup from Monday, January 18. The 2028 show is set for January 26 to 28, 2028.

On the Upper Level of the Las Vegas Convention Center's South Hall, 3150 Paradise Road. Hotels are booked through EvolveCon on the HotelMap platform, and SLATS runs no shuttle, so stay within walking distance or use rideshare, the Vegas Loop or the Monorail station at the convention center.

Emerald quotes SLATS booth space through its sales director rather than publishing rates. On the build side, a 10×20 inline rental from us runs $7,500 to $15,000 and a custom 20×20 island $50,000 to $120,000. License to Buy placement adds $975 and a New Product Zone entry $835.

Qualified retail buyers from mass, specialty, department, sporting goods, gift and online stores, plus college bookstores and licensing departments. Retailers on the 2026 list included Amazon, Fanatics, Target, Sam's Club, Hot Topic and TJX, and more than 120 college licensing departments attended in 2025.

SLATS is a trade event and not open to the public. Retailers must prove their business with two documents, such as invoices for multiple licensed products, a business license or a resale permit, and licensing staff show a university page or business card. Children under 16 are not allowed on the floor.

Selling from the booth during the show is strictly prohibited. Display items sold to a buyer stay on the floor until after the Friday close, and the exhibitor must escort the purchaser out and clear them with security. Plan for orders, not cash sales.

The EAC/I&D form, with the contractor's certificate of insurance, is due in the SLATS Exhibitor Console by November 18, 2026, the same date as hanging-sign variance requests. Show management also needs the certificate at least 30 days before installation. We file both for you.

Nevada is a right-to-work state, and SLATS lets full-time employees set their own exhibits, but they may not use powered or mechanical equipment. Any labor you hire must come through Freeman or a registered EAC, and forklifts are Freeman only.

Signs may hang only over island, split island and peninsula spaces measuring at least 400 square feet, topping out at 25 feet from the floor with a 5-foot gap above the structure and a 20-foot combined height. Linear and end-cap booths cannot hang signs, and Freeman handles all rigging.

Freeman's advance warehouse in Las Vegas accepts crated, boxed or skidded freight from December 18, 2026, with an after-deadline charge for anything arriving after January 13, 2027. It refuses uncrated or pad-wrapped freight, and every carrier checks in at Freeman's marshalling yard first.

From our Las Vegas hub we rent SLATS booths from 10×20 inlines to islands: fabric graphic walls, slatwall and gondolas for licensed product, counters, storage closets, lighting and flooring. Freeman freight plus the install and dismantle, run by your Purple project manager, sit on one fixed proposal.

License to Buy is a coupon program: for $975 exhibitors place an offer in the show directory, and buyers get money back on orders written at the show. In 2026, 115 exhibitors and 175 retailers took part, writing $23 million+ in orders with $120,800 in rewards paid out.

Each company receives six badges per 10×10 booth, registered through the welcome email sent to your contract contact. EAC crews pick up a daily wristband at an EAC check-in area, and badged exhibitors may enter two hours before opening on show days.

For licensees and brands seeking licenses it puts league and collegiate licensing staff and buyers from 1,100 storefronts, per SLATS, in one hall. One exhibitor quoted by SLATS says it requested nine new licenses at the show. The return comes from orders and license meetings, not walk-up sales.