Comic-Con International Considers Its Options
Comic-Con International’s current venue contract only lasts through this year’s event (July 25-28), and it would like the world to know that it has options. Forbes reports:
“We would never want to leave, but if push came to shove and it became untenable for us, it’s something that we would certainly have to look into,” said David Glanzer, Chief Communication and Strategy Officer for Comic-Con International, the nonprofit group that puts on SDCC and WonderCon, in a phone interview Monday. “As event planners, we’re always contacted by different cities and it would be reckless for us to not at least acknowledge that.”
CCI’s biggest issue right now is not with the convention center itself, but with the hotels in the area:
The sticking point for the Convention is the behavior of some of the hotels in the area. For decades, SDCC has negotiated block rates for rooms that they offer to out-of-town attendees, exhibitors, professionals and guests at a discount.
…
Recently, Glanzer said some hotels have been making fewer and fewer rooms available in the blocks, knowing they can charge top dollar on the open market. Rates for non-block rooms during Comic-Con weekend at some of the bigger hotels can go for two or three times the ordinary high season rate, and even smaller hotels and Airbnbs in the area charge significantly more to take advantage of the peak demand.
Hotels want to sell room-nights, and the typical deal recognizes that a convention brings people to fill the hotel, getting discounted rates for those people in exchange. This deal is more valuable at times when it’s hard to fill the hotel, which is why your local convention is likely to be held on a holiday weekend or in the tourist off-season.
CCI, however, is so popular that it forms its own tourist season. There are enough people willing to pay exorbitant rates that hotels can make more money by not allocating rooms to the official CCI room block. Glanzer points out that if ordinary fans can no longer attend, there may be no one for the big exhibitors and studios to market to.
Space constraints are another gripe:
Glanzer also pointed out that Comic-Con has been bottlenecked by the capacity of the San Diego Convention Center, and several ballot measures to fund an expansion have failed.
The San Diego Convention Center’s own site says it has 2.6 million square feet of space, which already places it among the biggest convention centers in the United States. CCI uses all that space plus some of the meeting facilities at surrounding hotels. A move to almost any other city would likely require downsizing.
Not mentioned in the interview is that one of CCI’s long-running advantages in attracting a Hollywood studio presence is its location in Southern California. A move out of day-trip range from the Los Angeles area would likely lead to a diminished studio presence. As we saw last year during the film industry strikes, CCI can have a fun convention even without the studios, but a long-term absence from San Diego is likely to diminish its marquee pop culture status.
In Brief
Senshi Con is skipping 2024 due to a combination of reorganization and not being able to get its preferred dates. It hopes to return in 2025.
Retro World Expo (Hartford, Connecticut, August 23-25) has added Dan Kitchen, Nadia Oxford, SSRG, Headcannon, Jason Griffith, Pete Capella, Mike Pollock, T. C. Carson, Warren Davis, Clint Basinger, and Jeremy Parish as guests.
Spooky Empire (Charleston, South Carolina, August 23-25) has added Jaeden Martel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, and Jackson Robert Scott as guests.
FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah, September 26-28) has added Mel Gibson and Edward Furlong as guests.
Kawacon (San Antonio, Texas, January 17-19) has added Xanthe Huynh as a guest.
Trek Long Island (Hauppauge, New York, May 30-June 1) has added Tiffany Shepis as a guest.
Event Calendar
Weekend of July 19-21
Buffalo NASFiC 2024, Buffalo, New York, USA
Celsius 232, Avilés, Spain
Imaginarium Convention, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
OzCon International (Oz series), Pomona, California, USA
Costume College 2024: Costumes of Stage and Screen, Los Angeles, California, USA
Fur-Eh!: World Anthro Games (anthropomorphic), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Furway 2024 (anthropomorphic), Brandbu, Norway
Brazil FurFest 2024: Hotel Assombrado (anthropomorphic), Santos, Brazil
Eufuria 2024 (anthopomorphic), Albany, New York, USA
QuinCon 37 (gaming), Quincy, Illinois, USA
Festival Ludique International de Parthenay (gaming), Parthenay, France
Ropecon (gaming), Helsinki, Finland
Gem State Gaming Convention, Boise, Idaho, USA
Just added: ConsimWorld Expo 2024 (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA
Open Gaming Convention 2024, Westford, Massachusetts, USA
Berlin Brettspiel Con 2024 (gaming), Berlin, Germany
PretzCon 2024 (gaming), Omaha, Nebraska, USA
1d4Con 2024 (gaming), Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, USA
World Boardgaming Championships, Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, USA
Venger Con III: Revenge of the OSR (RPGs), Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA
Historicon 2024: From Hollywood to Historicon (miniatures gaming), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Southern-Fried Gaming Expo (video games), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Classic Game Fest (retro video games), Austin, Texas, USA
TennoCon 2024 (Warframe), London, Ontario, Canada
Tosho-con (anime), Cranford, New Jersey, USA
Anime Friends, São Paulo, Brazil
Anime Messe Babelsberg, Berlin, Germany
Sydney Manga & Anime Show, Sydney, Australia
Kitsune Kon (anime), Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
JoMoCon (anime), Joplin, Missouri, USA
Dokidokon (anime), Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Tekko 2024 (anime), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
KuroNekoCon 2024 (anime), Spokane, Washington, USA
ConnectiCon XXI (media), Hartford, Connecticut, USA
The Urban Nerd Con (Black media), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Weekend of July 26-28
Confluence 2024, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA
NärCon 2024, Linköping, Sweden
Aurawra (anthropomorphic), Sydney, Australia
Continuum (gaming), Cranfield, UK
Fling.con (gaming), Schertz, Texas, USA
Board Game Days, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Go Play NW 2024 (gaming), Seattle, Washington, USA
World Boardgaming Championships, Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, USA
GriffCon24 (miniatures gaming), Harlow, UK
Epic42 With Intel (LAN gaming), Kettering, UK
Dream Con (anime), Austin, Texas, USA
AnimeFest, Arlington, Texas, USA
AnimeCom: Entertainment District Arc, Kingston, Jamaica
Wasabicon PDX (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA
AnimeIowa, Coralville, Iowa, USA
OokiiSoraCon (anime), Helena, Montana, USA
Anime STX, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Advík 2024 (anime), Prague, Czechia
AFA Creators Super Fest 2024 (anime), Singapore
Pretty Heroes (female-centered anime), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Comic-Con International, San Diego, California, USA
Shore Leave 44 (media), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Alias Entertainment Expo: Battle Arena (media), Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago
Corpus Christi Comic Con, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
GalaxyCon Raleigh (media), Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Comic Con Manchester, Manchester, UK
MegaCon Live Manchester (media), Manchester, UK
GalaCon 2024 (My Little Pony), Waiblingen, Germany
Weekend of August 2-4
Diversicon 31/Mythcon 53: Fantasies of the Middle Lands, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA
AMA-CON, Amarillo, Texas, USA
PulpFest 2024, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Epsom, UK
CanFURence 2024: As Seen On TV (anthropomorphic), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Gen Con 2024 (gaming), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
StarCon (gaming), Rye, New Hampshire, USA
24 Hour Board Game Marathon, Ilminster, UK
AnimagiC (anime), Mannheim, Germany
Anime Town Louisiana, Gonzales, Louisiana, USA
Otakon (anime), Washington, DC, USA
Otakuthon (anime), Montréal, Québec, Canada
Otakukon 2024: Chuunin Exams (anime), Harare, Zimbabwe
Really Cool Comic Con, Flint, Michigan, USA
Bell County Comic Con, Belton, Texas, USA
Enid Comic Con, Enid, Oklahoma, USA
Monster-Mania 59 (horror media), Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA
STLV: 58-Year Mission (Star Trek), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Starfleet International Conference 2024 (Star Trek), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
CybFest NW (Transformers), Kent, Washington, USA
Weekend of August 9-11
Geek Out at Staten Island, Staten Island, New York, USA
Key City Steampunk Convention: Steampunk Noir, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Furrydelphia (anthropomorphic), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
HandyCon Lucky 13 (gaming), Milton Keynes, UK
Game & Party Con, St. Augustine, Florida, USA
Pixel Con (video games), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Long Island Retro Gaming Expo (video games), Garden City, New York, USA
Fragapalooza 2024 (LAN gaming), Leduc, Alberta
Utah Retro GameXpo 2024 (retro video games), Davis, Utah, USA
Grand Tribunal (Ars Magica RPG), Cheltenham, UK
AniNite 24 (anime), Vienna, Austria
AniBash (anime), Rochester, New York, USA
Abunai!: Kitsune Matsuri (anime), Veldhoven, Netherlands
Queen City Anime Convention, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Anime 414, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Anime Revolution, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Anime-zing!, Rock Island, Illinois, USA
Animethon 2024, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Mid City Micro-Con (comics), Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Comic Market 104 (fan comics), Tokyo, Japan
Wicked Comic Con, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Fandom Fest 2024 (media), Schenectady, New York, USA
D23 Expo (official Disney), Anaheim, California, USA
TFNation (Transformers), Birmingham, UK
Weekend of August 16-18
Epic Nerd Camp, Darlington, Maryland, USA
NecronomiCon Providence 2024 (H. P. Lovecraft), Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Furdance Budapest (anthropomorphic), Budapest, Hungary
Argentina FurFiesta (anthropomorphic), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Texas Furry Siesta 2024: Walk On the Wild Side (anthropomorphic), Dallas, Texas, USA
Dragonflight Gamecon, Bellevue, Washington, USA
Coulee Con (gaming), La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Lone Star Game Expo, Grapevine, Texas, USA
Field of Games, Silverstone, UK
Phoenix Con (gaming), Appleton, Wisconsin, USA
Gratislavia (gaming), Wrocław, Poland
MaricopaCon 2024 (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA
HistoriKC Fest: Midwest Madness (historical boardgaming), Olathe, Kansas, USA
Nashcon (miniatures gaming), Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Tokonatsu (anime), Henlow, UK
Hikari (anime), Poznań, Poland
Shikkaricon (anime), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Colossalcon Texas (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA
RakuCon Manchester (anime), Manchester, UK
Stars of Time (media), Weston-super-Mare, UK
TERRIFICON (media), Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
RisuCon (media), Rockville, Maryland, USA
Fan Expo Chicago (media), Rosemont, Illinois, USA
Fairfax Comic Con, Chantilly, Virginia, USA
Station Unity 2024 (media), National Harbor, Maryland, USA
UniCon 2024 (media), Riga, Latvia
Flame Con X (LGBT+ media), New York City, New York, USA
Coda
A video format too obscure for even the NSA (MuckRock, hat tip: Schneier on Security)
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