Could SDCC really leave San Diego? I doubt it.

 10 JULY 2024

Remember that period of time when we were constantly taunted - or tantalized, depending on your POV - with the idea that San Diego Comic-Con might up and move to Vegas or Anaheim? There would be mock-ups of convention center expansions, then opposing statements from various city authorities, then threats and hints that SDCC would take its big revenue-generating superpowers to a more appreciative city.

Then all of that kind of died down.

Well, David Glanzer, CCI's Chief Communication and Strategy Officer, has revived the conversation. You have to read this Forbes article; he really goes in for the jugular! He makes some excellent points on the conflict between CCI's genuine desire to keep the Con affordable and the limitations of the current space and the economic priorities of local hotels. Specifically, he points out that it's not just a question of literal supply, as so many people assume. He says that some hotels have been making fewer rooms available at SDCC rates because they can charge those sky-high rates for the rest.  

So is Comic-Con really leaving San Diego?

We don't know but Glanzer had some excellent zingers. My favorite quotes:

“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. As event planners, we’re always contacted by different cities and it would be reckless for us to not at least acknowledge that.” 

This is the Con equivalent of reminding the inattentive person you're dating that you've got options. Do you know how many people want to go out with me? In SDCC's case, it's true.

And this one: “2025 is when our contract expires, unless something happens before the convention this year. And if so, I imagine we would make an announcement during the show.” The pressure is on! Can you imagine if they actually made an announcement? It would have to be on Sunday to prevent people from going absolutely berserk. Or rather, they'd still go berserk, but mostly outside the convention center walls.

And finally: “...We’ve run conventions in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, and they were very successful. I think there are a lot of cities that would want to accommodate us. In my experience with other science fiction cons I have attended, cities would bid for the convention.” Stop taking me for granted and buy a ring already! If you don't want me, others do!

The article also points out that Executive Director Fae Desmond is stepping back; I nominate myself as a replacement. As will a few thousand veteran attendees, I'm sure. All I can say is: heavy is the head that wears the Comic-Con crown, or so I imagine. Really, the entire CCI staff needs to write a memoir of the most batshit attendees, celebrities, and problems they've dealt with. 

Where would we go?

So - to revive this painful question - how devastated will you be if SDCC leaves San Diego? I'm fine with it but I know I'm in the minority. For most attendees, I think, the Gaslamp, the morning fog, favorite bars, irrational attachments to Ballroom 20, and a hundred other factors are deeply embedded into their love for Comic-Con. I don't think it would feel exactly the same if they went to Vegas or some other city. In essence, I think San Diego Comic-Con would die, as if we had unsuccessfully removed a conjoined twin from its side.

And a new Con would be born. San Diego attendees would have a new set of expenses and travel challenges if they followed it, and a new local population of attendees might become interested with the Con in their backyard. Studios might lose interest. Attendees would question why they should still go there as opposed to NYCC or some other Con. It all depends on where the Con would land and how CCI marketed the change.

But in the end, I highly doubt we're going anywhere. What do you think?

 

Understanding the size of your SDCC world

 5 JULY 2024

We're less than a week out from panels and programming being published - IMO, the most exciting days of pre-SDCC July. And I know that plenty of first-timers will be meticulously plotting their moves: what panels at what time and with what length lines. But one thing they rarely give a thought to? Transit time.

Every SDCC attendee needs to realize how big the convention center is. The basic numbers - 615K sq feet of exhibit space and 201K sq feet of meeting and ballroom space - hardly convey the full scope of what can feel like walking through an airport. Just as you would calculate moving from one terminal to the next when booking connecting flights, you'll need to factor in your travel time when deciding if you have time to leave the convention center for lunch or if you can make back-to-back panels at opposite ends of the building. Plenty of places are listed as "adjacent" or "3 blocks away" or ".5 miles" but somehow demand more of a journey than you anticipated.

If you've never been to SDCC before, I recommend looking at arial photos. Yes, the Marriott Marquis is right next door - but only to one end of the convention center. Hilton Gaslamp and Hard Rock are "right across the street" but you still have to walk to a place where you can cross and deal with the crowds. If there's one sentiment most SDCC first-timers express, it's surprise over how much walking is involved at the Con. 

Your panel-to-panel travel

First, know that the center will be crowded in general. Attendees walking, groups of friends talking, people sitting and sprawled out and rubbing their aching feet, cosplayer photo shoots - it all creates an obstacle course in which you're dodging and weaving barriers as you try to reach your destination. So if you're plotting your course from room 3 to room 25ABC, you might want to look at these floor plans and get a rough idea of what it takes.

As far as remembering where rooms are once you're inside, the center is laid out in a fairly comprehensive fashion compared to others I've seen. It's unlikely you'll get hopelessly lost. But it is a good idea to check the maps online or in your program guide before you set out for a panel, just to make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Lines and room size

It's easy to be taken aback by the lines the first time you see them. Sometimes the smart thing is giving up and going to Plan B; but sometimes you need to remember the room you're targeting can seat thousands of people and you still have a good shot at getting in, even if the line looks horrendous. If you're trying to get into 6BCF, which holds over 2,000 people, a line stretching down the hall shouldn't intimidate you. But if you're trying to get into room 8, which doesn't even hold 500 people, then maybe that long line is telling you to go elsewhere.

You can read the full room capacity breakdown here but here are a few approximate counts for the big rooms:

• Hall H holds 6,500 people
• Ballroom 20 will hold about 4,908
• Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront holds about 2,660
• Room 6BCF will hold about 2,160
• Room 6A will hold about 1,040
• Room 6DE will hold about 884
• Room 11AB will hold about 504
• Room 5AB will hold about 504
• Room 25ABC will hold about 480

A final thought: spending your energy wisely should be a conscious decision. If you don't make some kind of plan on how you can kill 5 birds with one trip, rather than walking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, you may burn out quick. I don't care if you're Katie Ledecky and you've achieved a physical fitness level that laughs in the face of concepts like "tired." SDCC can wear you out, blister your feet, flare up an old knee injury, be the first chime that strikes on the clock of your mortality. So take it easy when you can and travel smart, not hard.

CCI and San Diego renewed their vows

30 JUNE 2017

Remember when you were little and your parents would let you unwrap one gift on Christmas Eve to hold you till morning? We got an early Con gift today: San Diego Comic-Con is staying in San Diego through 2021.

No, we didn't get the convention center expansion of our dreams promised to us, but the 3-year deal does involve local hotels providing those sweet, sweet discounts. And mayor Kevin Faulconer is still angling for that expansion, noting, "These three additional years are going to go by real quickly. Our convention center must be expanded if we want to keep Comic-Con and other major events in our city."

Those of you who remember when the contract was extended to 2018 - which then sounded so far in the future - know how true that is. 2021 may sound like The Future, but we'll be there before you know it. Though god knows what those badge sales will be like.

Give a little thanks to CCI, the San Diego Tourism Authority and Mayor Faulconer today. They preserved our best Comic-Con future for a few more years.

Understanding the size of your Comic-Con world

28 JUNE 2017

If there's one thing that takes many first-timers by surprise, it's the physical size of Comic-Con. When you look at the programming, and see facilities described as "adjacent" and others as "2 blocks away," it all sounds so manageable. If you need to hop from a panel in 28DE to the Indigo Ballroom or the public library, you'll just hustle and make it happen, right?

Not always. Just meeting up with your friends within the Exhibit Hall can take longer than you'd imagine. You're in Lobby A, they're down by F, and you've got to fight all kinds of crowds and strollers and lines and cosplayer clusters to reach them. Or maybe you're traveling outside - and you didn't realize how long it would take just to cross the street, (see below) let alone navigate the blocks to the Horton Theatre.


Here's something that can help: looking at an aerial view of the convention center like this one.
That's the center in the middle. To your right, you can see the Hilton Bayfront where the Indigo Ballroom is. On the other side of the convention center is the Marriott Marquis, where quite a few panels and film festivals are, and rising up beyond it is the Manchester Grand Hyatt, home to the blood drive, the daily Conan Pop giveaways and other events. From looking at this, you can tell that a basic hustle isn't going to cut it in all cases. So factor foot travel time into your plans.

One way to save yourself a lot of walking and a lot of time: mapping out where your panels and booths are in advance. Look at the convention center floorplan just to get an idea of what you'll be navigating. Just seeing the room capacity can help you put lines in context. If 6BCF holds over 2,000 people, a line down the hall isn't that foreboding. But if you're trying to get into room 8, which doesn't even hold 500 people, then maybe that long line is telling you to go elsewhere.

As convention centers go, navigating San Diego's is fairly intuitive. I doubt you'll get lost. More likely you'll just underestimate how much time you'll need to get hither and yon. That may not sound like the most dire fate but it can ruin an entire afternoon when you miss getting into one panel and it's too late to backtrack to your second choice. If you're new to SDCC, find some time to walk around when you arrive. You'll get a feel for it all and get a better idea of how to plan your day.

Our SDCC temple is getting a makeover

21 DECEMBER 2016



Happy Yule/Winter Solstice! Have you made your New Year's resolutions yet? Here's one to put on your list: getting a San Diego Comic-Con badge so you can enjoy the upgraded convention center in all its fancy new cutting-edge technology.

Don't get excited; there isn't a new Hall H or extra mile of Exhibit Hall being built. But as a future SDCC attendee, you will be able to enjoy LED lightning, "modernized" escalators and other infrastructure upgrades - what the Board of Directors chair calls "cutting-edge technology that improves our efficiency and enhances the experience of all of our guests." Supposedly 50 people a day are busy performing the center enhancements.

This isn't just about catering to our very special nerd demands, of course - it's about keeping the facility competitive. If you've followed along with the tortuous saga of the Convention Center Expansion That Never Was, you know the expansion was justified on the grounds that a bigger center could attract other events. San Diego Comic-Con may be the cat's meow of San Diego happenings, but alas, even our magnificence is not enough to sustain the center all year round. And as CEO Clifford "Rip" Rippetoe pointed out, other facilities in other cities aren't quite as hindered by local politics. Anaheim is already completing its 7th expansion.

As for our expansion - well, it's best to think about something else if you want to keep your holiday spirit. "A plan to make the center larger has been held up by litigation and land that was going to be used for a bigger footprint is no longer available. Rippetoe said there is currently no timeline for getting the expansion underway." We know.

At least we still have modernized escalators to look forward to. And the looming badge sale, at which point we'll begin our long nerve-wracking 2017 slide into Comic-Con mayhem.

Are you an average SD convention center attendee?

1 DECEMBER 2016



At most Cons, there's not much point in thinking about the facility around you. You hope the bathrooms are clean, the escalators work, and the rooms are easy to find as you hotfoot it from one panel to the next. That's about it.

But San Diego Comic-Con is a bit different, of course; its convention center has been the center of much drama and controversy as the possibility of its expansion - and different forms therein - hangs in the balance, throwing into question the future location of SDCC. Recently a number of proposals went down in flames but the issue is far from dead. And it's not just of interest to attendees; locals have many feelings on the expansion and who will pay for it.

Some of those calculations come down to us: how much do we spend in the fair city of San Diego, and are we worth catering to?

The convention center has focused on that spending in its new 2016 report. Alas, some people doubt its monetary authenticity. Heywood Saunders, for instance, author of the esteemed Convention Center Follies - possibly the best title that has ever existed - scoffs at the reported attendee spending. However, he also seems to be unaware of the clamor for hotel rooms, stating "People aren't staying anywhere near four nights and they never have." He also has this to say about the various California center expansions: "It is not plausible that all will succeed or any will succeed." Okay, then. I'm sure he'll enlighten us more in his sequel The Comic-Con Curmudgeon.

Here are the numbers the convention center is reporting on the "average" FY16 attendee. See if you fit the bill:

• Lodging: 428
• Food: 143
• Shopping: 80
• Local transportation: 18
• Total: 1,179

You get the idea - these numbers are way lower than what you and I drop at SDCC. Yet even though Comic-Con is listed as the king of all convention center events, the report doesn't focus on us too much, instead exploring - yawn - medical convention attendees.

You may not be a report person, but if you are interested in our impact on San Diego - besides how magical and beautiful we make it every July - you might want to check it out. That said, I don't think our taxi and drink budgets are the biggest factor in keeping the Con in San Diego. We come, we spend, many of us definitely stay for 4 nights, and then we leave. The city could survive without our money. But they also enjoy a certain prestige in being the city of the most famous Comic-Con, and CCI has their roots there, and all in all, I just don't see the two of them breaking up with each other.

However, Heywood Saunders and his ilk have a point - convention centers are more than their biggest events. We may be a carnivorous demographic in our need to consume every meal, hotel room and Sailor Moon shirt in sight, but the San Diego Convention Center can't justify a costly expansion just for us. They haven't so far; they've spoken of attracting other events as well. But the report is still a good reminder that we are not the be all and end all of the expansion.

And the CCI soap opera goes on

1 SEPTEMBER 2016





What would we do in the SDCC off-season without lawsuits, municipal battles and feisty debates to tide us over? It's only been just over a month since San Diego Comic-Con bid us farewell, but the snide and contentious debates over its future - and finances - continue. Let's examine.

There's the petition to stop Dean Spano's Measure C for a fancy new stadium. I love how people say "Comic-Con is against it!" to bolster any argument in San Diego, as if CCI is itself a city superhero whose opinions carry moral authority. In fact, the counter argument - which says the proposed "convadium" is a great idea - also quotes CCI as saying they won't leave San Diego if it happens.

Then there's Measure D (you can suss out the difference between the 2 measures here but neither is for a contiguous expansion) authored by the indefatigable attorney Cory Briggs. You know Mr. Briggs, he's been the thorn in our convention center expansion side since the beginning. Now he's come up with the ominous-sounding "Citizens' Plan" as a way of "making sure the rules of the game are fair."

Alas, a city councilman disagrees, calling the measure "poorly written and misguided" and a "recipe for disaster" that could force SDCC to leave town. (The essay doesn't name Briggs, other than to mention "a lawyer who makes his living suing taxpayers" but it apparently drew blood as Briggs left a salty rebuttal in the comments.)  And again, CCI's opinion was held up as the voice of reason: "Comic-Con has stated in the past, and continues to believe, a contiguous, expanded convention center is one that will benefit the city best. It appears this ballot initiative does not favor that scenario."

We know.

The Haus That CCI Built


But the convention center expansion isn't the only CCI news these days. That would be - I can't even type this without laughing - "Barriohaus LLC" which is NOT a Mexican-German fusion restaurant as you might think. It's owned by CCI and it bought 2 office buildings and a warehouse for 6.3 million dollars in April 2015. Good thing CCI didn't waste any extra cash by mailing all badges directly to their attendees!

Strangely, this purchase was not announced on the Toucan blog, but was instead revealed through their recent audit. If you want to delve into all the details of the tax filings and rules for non-profits, there's quite a bit of cynical subtext in this article. Like snidely mentioning that president John Rogers' salary jumped from 64K in 2014 to 208K last year. But hey, that's not what we care about, right? We're wondering...

• Is the new 32,000 square feet of space going to be used for the Comic-Con museum?
• Will it relate to Comic-Con HQ?
• Is SDCC more invested - beyond the literal - in San Diego now?
• Will we devoted attendees be invited to the hauswarming party?

Life as an SDCC loyalist: there's always something to spectate. If you're local, you know all about this - but even if you're not, these debates could affect your Comic-Con future. More will be revealed, I'm sure.

The dueling banjos of the convention center expansion

8 MARCH 2016




Another day, another propaganda piece on how a multi-site convention center expansion "will serve the Comic-Con community in new and exciting ways." That's what they hope to convince CCI of, at any rate. (They also mention future and hypothetical Super Bowls, soccer games, religious gathering and Final Four games to convince everyone else.)

"They" in this case are the Chargers, JMI Reality, environmentalists and "higher education advocates" who want the non-contiguous expansion. The one where you probably have to ride a shuttle just to reach certain panels.

David Glanzer, CCI spokesperson, injects some common sense into the debate: "The ability to have all exhibitors under one roof is considerably more beneficial for attendees and show organizers." Anyone who's ever attended a conference or event where you have to travel between facilities knows this is true. He also speaks with the voice of experience, and relays the "great deal of consternation" that resulted a few years back when some vendors were moved up to the Sails Pavilion. That was just a different part of the same center, so it's obvious that being moved off site would probably cause even more of a disturbance.

He also came up with this scenario: the idea that any event wanting to book the convention center would need to contemplate booking the other site as well, if only to stop the "very real threat of rival events securing that space or ambush marketing that would draw attendees, and revenue, away from the original facility, their programs and exhibitors."

(That is such a CCI line of thought. I wonder if SLCC was ever accused of "ambush marketing" with their flashy car that started that whole lawsuit. But to be fair, I can see that CCI would feel obligated to protect their exhibitors' revenue as much as possible.)

Glanzer closed his piece quite fairly by saying the decision shouldn't be based on one event and that they'd try to work with whatever parameters were given. But overall he made CCI's stance clear and it's one that I believe most attendees share; we'd prefer to keep our Con in one building as much as possible. And some of us are still fantasizing about parties in that rooftop park that was mentioned back in the halcyon days when it seemed the expansion would actually happen.


In an ideal world, we'd have some kind of cage match during SDCC and settle this like civilized people. (Would wait in Hall H line, 10/10.) Failing that, maybe local attendees can work some type of neuro-linguistic programming or Jedi mind tricks to sway the good voters of San Diego. But overall, I'm feeling like those voters are probably as sick of hearing about this as we are and may just want to see the whole issue resolved and off the table.

The good convention center expansion is still in play

25 FEBRUARY 2016

Kind of, it is. Rabbi Laurie Coskey, the chairwoman of the San Diego Convention Center Board of Directors, says the Board "will continue to support a contiguous expansion that will provide the greatest financial and economic value for the city of San Diego."

That last part isn't just her opinion; an elaborate study reached that conclusion.

The Chargers feel differently, of course. Fresh from their rejection by the NFL to build a stadium in LA, they in turn have rejected the idea of a Mission Valley facility in San Diego and are back to requesting a multi-facility convention center expansion downtown. Not that they emphasize that part of it. Instead we're hearing the usual talk about how the facility would be "a permanent home for Comic-Con and a Comic-Con museum."


Well! What nerd could argue with that? All of us, actually, once you get to the part about the convention center "expansion" not actually being attached to our convention center. First-timers: divvying up your SDCC days between different sites may not sound like a huge deal. We already do that somewhat, with panels at the library, the Horton Theatre, the Hilton Bayfront, etc. However, the difference between an annex down the street and an actual increase in floor space is an important factor when it comes to potentially increasing the number of attendees permitted at SDCC.


Expect to see a ballot measure for the November election. In a world where we decide presidential primaries with a coin toss, this issue will apparently stagger on and on for eternity like a bureaucratic zombie. Stay tuned.

Another twist in the convention center saga

28 DECEMBER 2015

Remember when the Salt Lake Comic Con lawsuit seemed like it was going to provide drama for eons and the convention center expansion seemed like a sure thing? How times have changed.

A few weeks ago, everyone was alerted as to a petition that promised to "keep Comic-Con in San Diego" but actually was trying to eliminate a contiguous expansion of the convention center. Now things have taken another turn for the dramatic. Fifth Avenue Landing - one of the many players in the expansion drama - sent a letter to the City Council saying they were giving San Diego until 1 March to revive an option to acquire for 13.8 million their leasehold on the 6 acres between the convention center and the bay.

If they don't? Then after 1 March, Fifth Avenue Landing will pursue a major development project involving a hotel of 400 rooms or more.

To put this in very clear terms: the contiguous expansion of the convention center was initially protested because various opponents said it would block water views and encroach on that space behind the convention center. (The hullabaloo about the hotel tax came later.) Now some of those same opponents are saying they're going to build something else on that same space.

Just when you thought this couldn't get anymore complicated.

Incidentally, the convention center is projected to bring in a record number of attendees in 2016. But this particular issue is a bit larger than just the center and includes other waterfront development agendas; I suggest reading the entire article. Overall, it paints a grim picture of how slippery this endeavor has become. (Example: "Incidentally, that consultant is the ubiquitous Charles Black, who negotiated the lease in question as the port's development consultant, then worked for the city on the expansion plan and now works for Carpenter and Engel. When it comes to selling advice in San Diego, it pays to be nimble.")

I don't think any of us wanted a new force with its own agenda rising up in this mess, but it looks like that's what we've got. An expanded convention center seems less likely than ever, at least within the time frame it's needed. What is likely - a move to LA, Anaheim, Vegas or staying in San Diego and suffering through the current limitations - is still a matter of debate.

Tricky, tricky: read before you sign a convention center expansion petition

11 DECEMBER 2015

courtesy of the San Diego Union-Tribute

If you have even half an ear tuned to San Diego Comic-Con, you're probably aware of the various ups and downs of the proposed convention center expansion. Once deemed a sure thing, it's been derailed by various players, including local attorney Cory Briggs who objected on several fronts, including a financing plan involving a hotel room tax.

But a new development bears close attention. There's a new initiative collecting signatures with the heartfelt plea "Keep Comic-Con in San Diego!" It even references hotel owners. If you didn't know better, you'd think this is exactly what we - and CCI - have wanted, right?

Ah, but this is an initiative authored by Cory Briggs himself. Twist! It actually is against expanding the convention center itself: "the measure specifically bars any such project on the waterfront." Not that the signature gatherers are emphasizing that part of it. Instead the campaign acknowledged today it instructed them to specifically mention the measure could keep SDCC in town.

Their defense: "We've known all along that Comic-Con and the large convention center hotels prefer a contiguous expansion on the bayfront. But unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen and regardless of where the expansion goes, Comic-Con needs more space so what our signature gatherers is <sic> saying is absolutely correct."

From CCI's David Glanzer: "We had no knowledge of this effort and as you can imagine, this came as a total surprise to us." CCI also said they weren't "a party to the initiative and its passing will have no effect on the organization's decision to remain in San Diego."

And organization Keep Comic Con in San Diego has disavowed any involvement with the petition as well.

Maybe Cory Briggs will awaken on Christmas Eve to the ghosts of Comic-Con Past, Comic-Con Present and Comic-Con Yet to Come and see what a bleak future we have without a contiguous expansion. In the meantime, be careful what you sign.

Waterfront SDCC expansion trumps off-site

1 SEPTEMBER 2015

Remember about 6 months back when we found out there would be a $90,000 study to analyze the pros and cons of various San Diego Convention Center expansion plans? The results are in and they are a complete non-surprise: an expanded center "needs to be on the waterfront." You don't say.

If you haven't been following this years-long saga, it boils down to this: the convention center is too small for San Diego Comic-Con and other conventions, so an expansion plan has been bandied about. Two chief debates have dominated the discourse:

1) whether to actually expand the existing center (the contiguous approach) or to embrace a "campus" approach with additional space built at other locations

2) how to finance the effort

Interested parties include real estate developers, the San Diego Chargers, local hotels, a tenacious attorney named Cory Briggs, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the California Coastal Commission and others. It's all quite the lesson in how exhausting municipal politics can get. Everyone's pushing their own agenda, with arguments over hotel taxes and water views and the spoils of tourism.

So to break down the latest developments:

• The study is "unequivocal in its conclusion that an enlarged center on the current bayfront site easily trumps a campus-like facility several blocks to the northeast when it comes to the dividends the city will reap." Easily trumps is a great phrase.

• The mayor said the report "is persuasive enough that he plans to begin work anew on a bayfront expansion project, with a goal of putting on the ballot a hotel tax increase to finance it as early as next year." Yep, we're sticking with the hotel tax plan. The current litigation over the former hotel tax financing plan "may well be resolved within the next six months."

• The indefatigable Cory Briggs, who is behind said litigation, has a different take. He "promises continued legal challenges as long as the city attempts to develop the waterfront with added convention facilities." And he predicted smugly (well, the article doesn't say that but I'm interpreting) that his current lawsuits "could take as long as five years to resolve." He then added villainously (more interpretation), "There's no way they can get a two-thirds vote in this town." How very Gotham City of you, Cory Briggs.

• The campus approach would deliver $61.2 million more in conventioneer spending but the waterfront expansion would deliver 2.5 times that; the city would make back the $428 million cost of the campus approach in 7 years, but would only take 3 years to make back the $410 million cost of the waterfront expansion.

Here's what I took out of all of this: 1) I'm really glad I disappointed my parents by not going to law school because oh my god tedious and 2) I'll probably be too arthritic/deceased/off-planet to go to San Diego Comic-Con by the time this all gets resolved. Maybe this will impact our actual SDCC lives someday but that day won't come any time soon.

So much for those tantalizing proposals of a rooftop park and footbridge. Oh well, we still have the Salt Lake Comic Con lawsuit to keep us entertained. At least that court battle is staying feisty and moving at a somewhat reasonable pace.

On volunteers, security guards & staff

8 JULY 2015



In my first few hours of SDCC, I talked to these people:

• A volunteer who might have been named Myron
• A convention center worker who wistfully asked me what the Con was like and said she wasn't allowed to shop in the Exhibit Hall or go to panels
• A security guard who contemplated for a full 12 seconds whether or not I should be allowed to photograph the inside of room 6A
• Two construction workers who had the misfortune to stand in front of the Hall H tent area, which made them the target of multiple questions from disgruntled attendees

The point being: there are a lot of people in uniforms walking around. Some can answer your questions. Most can't. Volunteers are usually trained for one specific task (though they often know more than that based on their attendee experience) and convention center staffers can tell you how to get where usually, but don't know programming specifics. Security guards have a variety of attitudes and power levels and information, and need to be handled strategically.

Generally speaking,  attendees are your best source of information. Witness the Hall H construction workers. At just past noon, there was already a line conundrum - some attendees didn't understand why there was a line under the tents when the wristbands were being given out elsewhere. They zeroed in on the construction guys in red shirts (in the literal sense, not the character sense) and demanded answers. As would anyone confronted by zealous Hall H campers, the construction guys got very nervous. Eventually other attendees answered the questions and they were left in peace.

No one is omniscient, of course, but the collective attendee knowledge base is pretty strong. So if you do have a question and none of the staff seems to have an answer, just ask someone wearing a badge. Eventually you'll find someone who knows.

The size of the convention center

6 JULY 2015

You're probably sick to death at this point of hearing me talk about how tired you'll be, how overwhelming the Con is, how long the lines are. I'm a broken record, no doubt. But I'm going to dwell in that vein a little longer today and ask you - if you've never been to the Con before - to take a minute to realize how big the convention center is. Because you'll need a realistic idea of what you're working with when you make your panel plans.

Your panel-to-panel travel

First know that the center will be crowded in general. Attendees walking, groups of friends talking, people sitting and sprawled out and rubbing their aching feet, cosplayer photo shoots - you're always dodging and weaving people as you make your way from room to room. So if you're plotting your course from room 3 to room 25ABC, you might want to look at these floor plans and get a rough idea of what it takes.

Lines and room size

It's easy to be taken aback by the lines the first time you see them. Sometimes the smart thing really is giving up and going to Plan B; but sometimes you need to remember the room you're targeting can seat thousands of people and you still have a good shot at getting in.

Here's a handy room capacity chart:

• Hall H holds 6,500 people
• Ballroom 20 will hold about 4,908
• Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront holds about 2,660
• Room 6BCF will hold about 2,160
• Room 6A will hold about 1,040
• Room 6DE will hold about 884
• Room 11AB will hold about 504
• Room 5AB will hold about 504
• Room 25ABC will hold about 480
• Room 7AB will hold about 480
• Room 24ABC will hold about 420
• Room 23ABC will hold about 405
• Room 32AB will hold about 350
• Room 26AB will hold about 340
• Room 8 will hold about 340
• Room 2 will hold about 340
• Room 9 will hold about 280
• Room 4 will hold about 280

Outside the convention center

I show this photo all the time because it's useful. That's the convention center in the middle with the Hilton Bayfront to your right. The shiny mirrored-looking building to the left is the Marriott Marquis. The taller building beyond it is the Hyatt. Look at the car size for a sense of perspective and you'll realize why getting from room 7 to the Indigo Ballroom, or going from Hall H to the Nintendo Lounge, is going to take a few minutes.

As far as remembering where rooms are once you're inside, the center is laid out in a fairly comprehensive fashion compared to others I've seen. It's unlikely you'll get hopelessly lost. But it is a good idea to check the maps online or in your program guide before you set out for a panel, just to make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Keeping the SD in SDCC

26 JUNE 2015

In the roar of Thursday programming announcements, this little blip barely got noticed: Allegedly CCI is sealing a new deal to keep the Con in San Diego through 2018, and it could be signed by the start of SDCC.

This is the part that probably matters most to you: "Hoteliers confirmed that they have been responding to a recent request from Comic-Con organizers that they write up addendums to their 2016 room block contracts committing to not raise their rates for 2017 and 2018 and to maintain the same number of discounted hotel rooms for the convention."

If you'll recall, CCI has said previously that hotel rooms are the stumbling block to staying in San Diego, as some hotels were making fewer rooms available and raising their rates. We all remember the astronomically priced "overflow site" on Hotel Day, right? The one where you could get a room at the Hilton Bayfront for a mere one thousand dollars a night? CCI is trying to prevent that from getting worse.

Of course, I'm guessing that the mercenary bloodbath that was Hotel Day has scared plenty of attendees into forking over huge sums for 2016 hotel rooms anyhow - too many attendees don't want to risk washing out completely, as many of us did this year. (And while it was awful, I do have to point out that Early Bird had tons of rooms available that went ignored. So remember that option if you're already dreading next year's hotel sale.)

After years of knowing that 2016 was the official end game on the contract, it's kind of weird to think that it's the very next Con. 20-24 July, 2016: that could have been the last San Diego Comic-Con ever. But right now it looks like we'll keep going right where we've always been.

Will Anaheim take the SD out of SDCC?

30 APRIL 2015




Another day, another article on the tempting towns that just might steal Comic-Con out of San Diego's clutches. The focus of this article: Anaheim. Which according to Jay Burress, CEO of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureay, attendees would just love.

The argument is less than convincing. Yes, Disney is right there (because attendees want to drop another few hundred after blowing a fortune at the Con, right?) and at some point there's going to be lots of parking. Yawn. But the article seems to think hotel rooms are Anaheim's ace in the hole. Which they could be, but that argument would be more persuasive illustrated by a deeply personal Hotel Day account. Instead we find out that:

• Anaheim has 13,000 hotel rooms within a mile. Note the distance. San Diego does have a decent number of hotel rooms as well but not within a mile.
• Of the 54 hotels doing Travel Planner discounted rates for SDCC, 4 have not signed on for those rates in 2016. Please note that doesn't include the hotels that have signed on, but are making fewer rooms available at those rates.
• SDCC organizers and San Diego officials are "optimistic" the Con will stay in San Diego.

Then weirdly the article says this: "The cost of hotel rooms is the one factor that San Diego has room to negotiate. It could be the secret weapon the city can use to keep the convention in town."

What? Everything else we've been told points to hotel rates going up. We saw that ourselves in the very special "overflow" site this year. We're just not getting as many discounted rooms as we used to.  If Hilton Bayfront was saying, "Sorry, sold out unless you want to pay a thousand a night" this year, where exactly is the room to negotiate? Unless city officials pressure hotels to return to discounted prices again, I fail to see a "secret weapon."

But maybe that'll happen. Maybe the Comic-Con overlords will slap some sense into local hotels and tell them to quit being greedy. I'm just not sure what the incentive would be, since the customer base for those expensive rooms is clearly there.

In the meantime, Anaheim will sing its siren's song and L.A. will join the chorus. It's a little disconcerting that we're still having this conversation in spring 2015 when CCI's contract is so close to its end. This dialogue has been going on for years - and the fact that it hasn't landed on a resolution yet makes a lot of us dubious that any kind of satisfactory outcome is going to happen in the next 2 years.

SD convention center expansion will be "studied"

19 MARCH 2015

                                                                   From U-T San Diego



It's all beginning to seem very Groundhogs Day-esque: the San Diego Convention Center expansion, which at one point seemed like a sure thing just months away from the swinging of hammers, is now back to the study stage. A $90,000 study, actually, to "analyze the pros and cons of alternative expansion scenarios." The last study was six years ago, which gives you an idea of how long this whole endeavor has been circulating.

If you haven't been following the story, it's this: after much dithering, an expansion of SDCC's convention center was approved; a local attorney, the Chargers, and a few other players put the kibosh on it by challenging the financing plan; now it's stagnated into frustration and uncertainty. Some objections from others have included 1) an expansion will block waterfront views 2) the money is better off spent expanding the nearby football stadium.

The main camps are the people who want a contiguous expansion (right there in/adjacent to the convention center) and people who prefer a non-contiguous expansion (additional space elsewhere, meaning convention attendees would have to move around the city a bit). One of the latter is JMI Realty, one of the study funders, who is currently espousing a plan where a new football stadium is built out with additional space, east of Petco Park. Yes, a developer who could benefit economically from the expansion is funding the study.

I feel safe predicting most SDCC attendees won't enjoy running literal blocks between panels (think of how long it takes just to cross the street, then add walking past Petco Park and then walking even further) but right now signs are pointing in that direction.

Consider this weak quote from board chairman Steve Cushman: "The mayor has said we need to be open to what others have proposed. A facility across the street, maybe our clients would like this. We don't know."

Oh, come on. No one who has gone to a convention of any kind has ever wished that they had to travel to multiple sites, rather than having the whole event in one place. But I don't think actual attendee preferences matter. Because we still have Cory Briggs in the mix, who is adamantly opposed to a contiguous expansion. Remember him? The guy who successfully led the fight to shoot down the financing plan? He's now working the "could impede access to the waterfront" angle. This guy does not give up.

At one time, the physical expansion of the center itself seemed locked in; now the winds seem to be blowing in another, more stadium-like direction. That would be disappointing but CCI doesn't seem to have much fight in it. David Glanzer previously said, "If it doesn't happen, we've been able to make do without it, and if we can mitigate the concerns we do have, we'll be able to stay here."

I doubt anyone who's lost out in a badge sale or felt overwhelmed in a crowded Exhibit Hall feels like this is "making do." But this is where we are, and once again, attendee voices are not a factor.

Will SDCC become Los Angeles Comic-Con?

22 JANUARY 2015

Imagine the perfect Comic-Con of your dreams - plenty of badges to be had, easy hotel reservations, and of course all the Hollywood starpower and new games and comic book legends you could cram into five days. Could that happen in L.A.? Would it still be the Comic-Con of your dreams if it did - if you weren't banging around the Gaslamp at night but maybe visiting Disneyland or going into West Hollywood?

It's a question worth considering, with the expansion plan on hold. Yes, CCI recently said they were open to compromises to stay in San Diego, but other cities have come calling - namely Anaheim and L.A. Here's what we know.

The convention center expansion

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer wants to hold onto us and is trying to find another way to finance the $520 million convention center expansion. He's been quite open about this.

Alas, the San Diego Chargers want a new stadium built blocks from the convention center, and want this new stadium to also be part of the expanded center. The local hotel industry is against this - they want a contiguous convention center expansion - but the Chargers are threatening to move to L.A. if they don't get it.


San Diego Comic-Con's other suitors

CCI has stated they want to stay in Southern California. That narrows the competitors to two: Anaheim and L.A. Let's break them down.

Anaheim, near Disneyland, has the largest exhibit hall space at 815,000 square feet, with another 200,000 square feet currently being added. 9 new hotels are being built within a mile of the convention center, adding another 1500 rooms to the current 13,000 available - a savory amount compared to San Diego's 11,000.

L.A. has made a play for SDCC before and failed. What it has to offer: obviously all the studios are right there. The convention center is also next to plenty of shops and restaurants. Where it falls short: only 5,000 rooms are within walking distance. This might surprise people but remember that Vegas draws most of the convention business in this part of the country - so it's not odd that L.A. never beefed up its own convention capacity.

Worth noting: CCI trademarked "Los Angeles Comic-Con" a few years back. Could they move to Anaheim and still call it LACC? Sure, why not. It'd be a stretch, but "Anaheim Comic-Con" isn't nearly as alluring.


What's actually going to happen - for now

CCI is supposedly going to sign a deal very soon to stay in San Diego in 2017 and 2018 - if hotels agree to make more meeting space available. This isn't guaranteed but given CCI's dislike of change, it's the most likely scenario.


My feelings and idle speculations

I no longer care where Comic-Con happens. Yes, I like it in San Diego, but I don't like the endless turmoil that swirls around every badge sale and Hall H panel.

Ideally I'd like SDCC to stay in San Diego and a new Con in L.A./Anaheim. Maybe CCI would own both. Maybe the ever-growing Con-monster that is ReedPOP would create a huge new show in L.A., having solved the hotel room issue with their bankrolled genius, and it would quickly become as big and magical as SDCC. Don't laugh; I see this happening. SDCC turns away thousands of people with their thousands of dollars every year and some smart capitalist is eventually going to offer them and their money a new home. It's inevitable. And ReedPOP has the ambition and vision to create a West Coast version of NYCC/Super Week. They've already shown they think bigger than most Cons and they would understand how to translate Hollywood proximity into new Con success.

And it wouldn't take anything away from SDCC, either. You'd just have two appealing choices instead of one and a more manageable demand for badges. Yes, it might split up some panel choices but you're already forced into reducing your options anyhow. And if you were local and could swing the time off, you could attend both.


I don't think this will happen overnight, but I do see someone - if not CCI - pouncing on the LA/Anaheim area fairly soon. It's hard to imagine SDCC leaving San Diego, given how important tradition seems to both CCI and attendees. But I'm sure they're as sick of the struggles and limitations as we are, and they may see a bright future in a move. Anything's possible. We'll just have to wait and see.

59,228 hotel room nights & other numbers

2 JANUARY 2015



If you're curious about how SDCC stacks up in terms of size and revenue compared to other convention center events, this article spells it out. Mostly there are a lot of medical conferences, a few tech and realtor events, and then us, "the top economic generator."

Our monetary might includes:

• $133.9 million in regional impact
• $80.4 million in direct attendee spending
• $2.8 million in tax revenues
• 59,228 hotel room nights

They mentioned that the delayed expansion isn't affecting anything this year; it's more that future events "may need additional space that isn't guaranteed yet." You don't say.

We may stay in San Diego with or without an expanded center

17 NOVEMBER 2014

For a few years now we've been hearing about the expanded convention center. When would it happen? How many people would it hold? Where would we go if it didn't happen?

We all know the planned expansion is on hold, but the idea that SDCC might just up and take itself to a different city with a bigger venue has always lingered tantalizingly in the air. However, that possibility looks like so much dust now.

CCI has officially said - in the voice of David Glanzer - that an expanded center "is not a must" for staying in San Diego: “An expansion would be great for the city and us, but if it doesn’t happen we’ve been able to make do without it, and if we can mitigate the concerns we do have we’ll be able to stay here.”

What? We're going to struggle through a severely capped Registration Day forever? It's never going to get better??

Some of those "concerns" have to do with hotel room rates and space at satellite venues. Yawn. I do like that San Diego is plotting new ways to hold onto Comic-Con but it's not exactly a surprise - we're an annual summer gift to the local economy and many business owners and politicians are keen to keep us around.

This article details a few of the efforts being made on our behalf:

• Asking local hotels to keep their rates at 2016 levels for 2017-2018. So far almost 30 of the 50ish hotels in the SDCC block have agreed.

• "Major waterfront convention hotels" - wild guess, that would be the Hilton Bayfront, Marriott Marquis and Hyatt - will offer meeting space.

• The convention center will offer a discounted rent, which this year was nearly 200,000. I actually thought it would have been higher.

Okay, so all of that is well and good, but it's not going to admit more attendees. And I found this quote mildly irritating: "Comic-Con has expressed concern over the last several years that it's getting very expensive for their attendees to come to San Diego and while they recognize that they're here at a premium time of year, they feel they're being taken advantage of to a degree. I believe that Comic-Con is ours to keep but we can't get too cocky and create an environment that doesn't work for their customers."

An environment that doesn't work for us? That wouldn't be San Diego at large - I'm fine with the city and I think most other attendees are too. It's the actual policies and practices of the Con itself that we have a gripe with. And money isn't one of them. CCI has frequently referred to the fact that they want to keep badge prices low, but I think this should be a low, low priority on their Fix List. The demand for badges is overwhelming. That means people are more than happy to pay the current badge prices and would probably pay more. Ditto hotel rooms - you don't see the Day's Inn selling out and the most expensive rooms at the Hyatt lingering on the site for weeks. People are willing to spend on Comic-Con and the expense is not what we're unhappy about.

Anyhow, that's the update. San Diego may be our home forever, but that means the current struggles may also be our lot forever. Fingers crossed the powers that be find a way to finance the expansion.