While the National Restaurant Association announced Monday that its high-profile trade show will stay put in Chicago through 2016, the city is not quite on terra firma yet.

The association will keep a close eye on whether a new state law aimed at cutting exhibitor costs at McCormick Place is fully implemented — a progression that could be derailed if two trade unions prevail in their challenge of the law in federal court.

“If something changes and the legislation is not able to be enacted the way it was designed and exhibitor rights go away, it becomes more difficult to explain why we would be in Chicago,” Mary Pat Heftman, executive vice president/convention for the association, said after a press conference announcing the new pact. Get the full story »