An exception will be made to convention attendees who purchase only banquet or tour tickets as they won't be using the cages. Likely these attendees are spouses or children of exhibitors, along for the ride, so to speak.
The new charge is a requirement starting at the 2017 Convention, though earlier host clubs may decide to charge this new fee. So far Oregon has not chosen to do so.
I totally understand the cost of new cages and equipment which continue to go up year after year. Recently a new model of convention cage trays has been prototyped and approved by the board. Hopefully these will be a great improvement over the wooden trays and should last much longer.
I'm not sure what dollar amount the board is budgeting for. But I think with the number of Open and Youth exhibitors at conventions instituting a $5.00 fee to start would sound more reasonable. Conventions are SO costly, especially if you add an airfare and kennel charge to the trip. Yes, cages and equipment are costly but without the exhibitors supporting the convention host clubs there would be no conventions.