The Gate Takes Cash and the Building Does Not
The NW Martial Arts Festival 2026 Championships run Saturday 7 November in Hall A at the Oregon Convention Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The U.S. World Class Taekwondo Association hosts, and the meet is open to all ages and belt levels. The venue listing itemises Kombat Taekwondo championships alongside forms, sparring, board breaking and demo team performances. Hall A runs 30,000 square feet under a 30-foot ceiling, at the venue guide's figures.
The spectator fee is $20, cash only, and the pass is good for that one day. The convention center states that its own operations are fully cashless across food and beverage, the parking garages and lots, locker rentals and vending machines.
One Reverse ATM, in the MLK Lobby
The venue's cash-to-card machine sits down the short hallway to the left of the welcome desk in the MLK Jr. Lobby. It loads once, with no reload, and charges no fee. It asks for no personal information.
Give the desk three lines to go with it. The machine is in the MLK Lobby. The load happens once, so a guest holding a $20 bill and needing lunch should load the whole amount. The card cannot be replaced without the receipt.
Five ATMs sit at Pre-Function A, Pre-Function B, Pre-Function C, the South Ginkoberry Concourse and Pre-Function E. That is the route for a spectator carrying only a card, because the gate takes no card. An ATM puts cash in the hand before the door.
Three Cash-Only Lines on This Show
The $20 spectator pass is one. The association's own outline names two more. A coach or media pass bought at the venue costs $150, cash only. A board-breaking competitor buys each board at the venue for $5, cash only.
A coach who skipped the online window therefore needs $150 in cash on the morning, and a board-breaking competitor needs cash for every board in the division. Neither figure appears on the venue event page.
The Booking Window Closed on 30 October
Registration shut at 11:59 p.m. PST on 30 October. Anything registered and paid between 25 and 30 October carried a $50 late fee. Payments are final, and the outline states no refunds.
The running order lands later still. The final tournament schedule is released on 2 November through the association's Facebook page, five days before doors. Reporting times and the weigh-in slot at the staging area sit inside that release, which lands on the Monday of fight week.
That is the window a revenue manager works with. Registration closes in the last week of October, and the hour the team must be inside the building is settled five days out.
No Block, No Rate, No Cut-Off
The association outline carries one hotel line, and it is an instruction rather than an offer. Many hotels are available next to the Oregon Convention Center, it reads, and it sends readers to Expedia. No page of the outline or of the event listing publishes a block, a rate, a cut-off or a booking code.
Every room this meet needs is bought at open market, in a district whose nearest addresses sit inside a quarter mile of the building on a straight line: the Inn at the Convention Center at 420 NE Holladay, the Hyatt Regency at 375 NE Holladay, Hotel Eastlund at 1021 NE Grand.
The 8 a.m. Door and the Room Hour
Doors open at 8 a.m. A club that drove overnight arrives either late on Friday or before dawn on Saturday. In the second case the team needs a room before the door, and the room is the part of the trip the hotel controls.
Ask the club two questions before quoting. What hour does the bus arrive, and how many spectators travel. A party of 12 at $20 a head is $240 in cash at the gate before anyone parks.
Price the early room against what the party already spends in the building. Parking runs $15 for up to 18 hours with no in-and-out privileges, and a dynamic $15 to $25 at entry on event days. The garage opens at 6 a.m., prohibits overnight parking, sells first come first served, and the venue says it can reach capacity.
A guaranteed room at 8 a.m. changes the morning. The team changes at the hotel and reaches Hall A without a garage queue. What that hour is worth is a number the desk sets, and the two figures it should clear are the $15 garage charge and the per-head gate the party is already paying.
Saturday Has a Second Show
On the same Saturday, Halls C-D-E carry the Oddities & Curiosities Expo from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a $20 door that takes cash and card. Two all-ages events share the building, the lobby and the garage, and the second wave starts two hours after the first.
Brief the split before Friday. The gate that takes cash only opens at 8. The gate that takes both opens at 10.