At the center of this conflict over PDF previews is the soaring cost of an art fair, especially one in a town like Basel, which is notorious for not having much in the way of accommodations, despite having a huge convention center that is part of the company that owns the fair. It is interesting that we did not hear much complaining about the hotels and restaurants for most of the first 50 years of the fair’s existence. But once Art Basel Paris debuted three years ago, the disparity between the cost and the quality of accommodations in Basel became a constant topic of conversation, even after the Trois Rois, the city’s best hotel, completed a large expansion just in time for last year’s fair.

After talking to several smaller galleries who have a coveted spot at the fair in Basel, I can see the bind that the Exclusive program puts them in. In an ideal world—or even the art world that existed 20 years ago, when Ségalot was getting a hairpiece and Coke-bottle glasses fitted—the galleries would bring their rarest and most sought-after works to Basel to debut on the stand. They would probably sell them, too. But now there are many more fairs, and a gallerist doesn’t know where the next great collector is going to encounter their program, or whether they might have to crate up the work they brought and send it home.

Doing the fair used to be a marketing expense for many of the smaller galleries. Basel in Basel was, and still is, an exclusive club that separates a participating gallery from those without the artists, expertise, or reputation to be selected. I spoke to one independent gallery whose owner was more than happy to comply with the Basel Exclusive program. Showing at Basel was a huge advantage to the dealer, who just had to figure out the right work to meet the fair’s criteria. But others worried that the type of work that might fit the bill for Basel Exclusive would be exactly the kind they could sell from their desk at home without incurring all the expenses of doing the fair.

One dealer told me this week it cost their gallery $400,000 to attend, including shipping, accommodations, and the fair’s own fees. For a smaller gallery, that might make sense, even if you are introducing a lower-priced artist you’ve done well with elsewhere to a new audience of European collectors who now dominate Basel. (Many Americans are opting to go to Paris in the fall.) But if you also have to bring some of your most sought-after artists’ work to the fair, you risk cutting into the profits you might have made selling the work without incurring the shipping costs.

Shipping has also become much more fraught these days with the disruption in the Gulf, which has raised the level of risk around doing a fair. Several galleries told me they heard that a few of their peers sent inventory to Art Basel Qatar in February that still has not made it back. “The vast majority of artworks have now left Qatar and safely reached their final destinations,” an Art Basel spokesperson told me when I asked about the works trapped by the hostilities. “A small number of works remain in Doha largely owing to the geopolitical situation and ensuing restrictions on airspace and maritime routes in the period following the fair.” The fair added that it has been actively working on solutions for those galleries affected.

For every gallery that’s frustrated by the rising costs and the risks of showing in Basel, there are a number of others that would be happy to have the opportunity to take their place. At the same time, there are some galleries that would happily give up their spot in Basel for a shot at Paris. As the art world hierarchy reshuffles, Art Basel will have to think hard about what will draw collectors. Maybe Murdoch has the right idea. The secret to making Basel a must-attend event lies more in increasing the allure of Basel than in holding back art.