Okay just one more posting for San Diego Hotel week. And then we’re done. But it had to be said: the idea of moving the con to Las Vegas is right up there in the Hall of Fame for Lame, Hare-Brained Ideas. Anyone who for one moment seriously espouses it is a dingbat.

We say THIS every year, too: the charm and magic of San Diego — and much of its appeal for the movie studios and production companies who have made it their PR launch pad — is the location. San Diego has the most temperate year-round weather in the contiguous United States. Yeah, it got a little hot and stinky a few times, but at night it always cools down to a perfect temperature: those who want to wear shorts and a t-shirt will be fine; those who want to wear a fancy little wrap they picked
up at FCUK will also be fine.

Name us one other American city with perfect weather, a giant convention center right on the oceanside, 7000 hotel rooms within actual walking distance of the convention center, and 150 cute, trendy and tasty restaurants from every world cuisine within walking distance. And a mall. And a Ralphs.

Go ahead. Name it.

Why is Sundance in Sundance? The incredible natural beauty. Why is Cannes in Cannes? The ocean and wonderful weather. You can hold comic book conventions anywhere else in the world you want to — and they do — but none of them will ever have all the factors that combine to make San Diego the most desirable location for the kind of show it has become.

And as far as the staying in a far away hotel thing goes — San Diego has us spoiled. Take New York City, f’rinstance. The convention center is a pain in the ass to get to, and while there are a zillion hotels in NYC, they are expensive and there are NO hotels adjacent to the Javits itself. We went down to the BEA in Washington, DC, last year and ALL the hotels were a $10 cab ride away. LA? Same deal. That’s just how life goes. If anything, having so many nice hotels close by makes San Diego MORE unique.

Now Vegas, as everyone has pointed out, Vegas is stronger than dirt and bigger than anything, bigger than anything you can imagine. The convention would be swallowed up whole instead of taking over the town.

PLUS, Hollywood execs wouldn’t be able to just “buzz down” to the con. Granted, Vegas is only a four hour drive from LA, but it’s still considered a longer trip than San Diego is.

DOUBLE PLUS: Hollywood already holds a convention to trot out their new movies and stars in Las Vegas every year — it’s called ShoWest. They don’t need another one.

TRIPLE PLUS: As everyone has pointed out, Las Vegas in July is a LITERAL HELL. We went there for a few days after San Diego a couple of years ago. It was 108 degrees during the day. For fun we decided to walk down to the 7/11 to get some soda pop. We had to stop twice to get water on the way to get a slushee! IT IS HELL. YOU WILL DIE. Plus, it ain’t really that cheap, traffic on the Strip is terrible and at 3:30 in the morning the town can be as depressing as hell.

And finally, this whole hotel room thing is just on beyond lame-oh, and it is not the Con’s fault that the demand for hotel rooms is high. We have no idea who this guy is, and he may be perfectly fine, but his LJ posting on the con/hotel snafu summarizes all the uninformed opinions that people throw around:

But yanno, they’ve spent an awful lotta years pumping attendance at the sacrifice of available hotel rooms. And now it’s bit them in the kharmic ass.

Gimme a break. People want to go to Comic-Con because it’s fucking cool! Whose “fault” is that?

1 COMMENT

  1. I don’t know if it would be true in LV, but in SD they turn off the air conditioning during set-up and tear-down. The thought of erecting and pulling down a booth in an un-air-conditioned convention hall in 100+ degree weather makes me imagine very clearly the death I will experience.

  6. “Does anyone remember that awful Las Vegas Comic-Con during Halloween back in 2003? No? There you go.”

    You mean the one that ended up being a bunch of pros, hanging out, getting to know each other, because there was nothing else to do?

  9. No, Heidi, Las Vegas at 3:30 PM is depressing as hell.

    3:30 AM in Vegas is a magic time, full of fun, action, adventure, and a fair bit of money making if the dice or the cards go your way.

  10. I think a big problem is that people are conflating not getting the exact hotel rooms they want, which is a total and complete non-issue (and I felt that way last year when I was shut out), with the lousy and sometimes unfair experience of getting on and securing a room, which is definitely an issue. It’s also an issue that can be resolved.

    The issues that can’t be resolved aren’t really worth talking about. The show is what the show is. You can either go or not go. It’s not a requirement or a right. Support your local or regional con. Go for half the weekend. Go buy that amount of comics, call 20 friends, order ten pizzas, download a bunch of creator podcasts, and have Stay At Home Con 2008.

    The possibility of moving the show to Las Vegas or LA was only seriously an issue when the show looked like it was going to enjoy exponential growth for the next ten years. Since it won’t grow like that, and the show is near capacity, putting the show someplace else isn’t on the table anymore. For that reason, I think looking at Vegas as a panacea is definitely wrong, if not ridiculous, but so is punking people for that idea being put into their heads.

    I think some of the solutions to these kinds of issues the con might consider over the next few years are:

    * re-doing, flexing, or adding to the free shuttle routes to certain clusters of hotels outside the current service area, perhaps considering something like dropping shuttle service to all hotels the convention center side of Broadway.

    * perhaps supplementing that service with late night van shuttle service concentrating on areas of late-night attendance concentration. Maybe make getting put on the route available to people throwing parties or whatever.

    * eliminating the practice of double- or triple-dipping on through-con reservations by requiring a deposit at time of reservation.

    * making sure the reservations partner can really handle the flood of first-day business

    * working with the city so parking isn’t at gouged prices

    * continuing to slowly work towards off-site programming and attractions that don’t screw over the people that are in those slots because they’re not in the main hall.

    * consider de-centralizing some administrative functions like registration and con paraphernalia sales.

    I mean, they’ve mostly fixed registration. Give ’em a chance.

    I also believe there should be certain hours of the day where you’re allowed to punch in the face anyone who stops floor traffic by posing for pictures, and anyone who has a booth with recorded noise over a certain decibel level has to give away all their stuff for free, but those are different issues for another day.

  11. you are all forgetting the whores. the whores and cheap alcohol. I would forsee many many bad things being in the media related to comics. not something that we would want, I think.

  12. Well, for a while I was one of the people in favor of moving the con to Vegas, but you’ve persuaded me otherwise.

    However — there is a real problem with exhibit capacity. I planned to get a 10×10 booth at this year’s con. Waited too long. Talked to a pleasant chap on the phone yesterday who said there’s a 400-name waiting list FOR EXHIBIT SPACE! And if by chance we got in, there’s no guarantee we could get an actual booth, we might get an 8-foot table over in the corner where no one buys anything.

    So we’re giving SDCC a pass this year, going to Heroes Con instead. Not because we don’t like San Diego, but because we just couldn’t get the set-up we needed.

  13. Wait, wait.
    The con would be swallowed by the city. Aren’t Wondercon, APE and NYCC swallowed by their cities?
    7,000 rooms? Suppose people shove five to a room (I know it’s higher in some cases, let’s take an average). That means 35,000 people have a bed or a floor. That still probably leaves out 15,000 attendees. And how many pros and exhibitors are there? I don’t think the con counts them as attendees. (Do they?)
    Pretty waterfront? Yes, it’s VERY pretty. I know this from seeing it as I fly in and out and sometimes from the shuttle bus. I don’t see it otherwise.
    Temperate weather? For that, Wondercon and APE.

  14. Tom:
    Excellent suggestions! Let me add on to yours:

    Shuttles: Hell yes drop it on the Broadway side, EXCEPT for persons who are disabled. (I’m curious how wheelchair-bound guests feel about getting from here to there. Do they feel they need it?)
    From Broadway to center and the other way is short walk. You can walk the floor all day, you can manage a walk to Broadway.

    Parking: I know every bit of paper added is added on many thousands of times, but what about a parking pass with the badge or a static adhesive car sticker(something that has a limited number of punches to keep it from being passed in and out of cars, or a number tied to a plate)? A weekend pass for lower-cost parking?
    Perhaps validation as one leaves the center?

    Off-site: my first thought is to move off the event that people will actually LEAVE to get to, and that’s the movie/TV presentations. Anything else, meh. Only for creators like Gaiman would people be arsed.
    But the movie/TV stuff? Oh, yes.
    (I’ll leave it to someone else to snark about that move making Comic-Con more LIKE a comic convention.)

  15. Great article! (I was wondering if you’d post about this. )

    * I appreciate the smoke-less atmosphere in San Diego. (Vegas casinos stink and in turn make me stink and probably my comics too.)

    * San Diego weather is more temperate because of the ocean. Vegas is crazy hot! (I don’t want my comics going up in flames just walking outside.)

    * I’d rather gamble my money away on comics than slot machines any day. (Is this comic in Near-Mint condition or just Very Fine?)

    * You know if it’s in Vegas an “adult” Con would end up being next door on the same week. We’d loose crowds of deprived geeks, who are necessary in running the Comic-Con smoothly. :)

    I’d like to second Tom’s point that “they’ve mostly fixed registration. Give ‘em a chance.” Although every year has brought more and more people, the Con has also been improving.

    It’s a San Diego summer tradition!
    (Keep the Comic-Con in San Diego.)

  16. Scott, you sort of prove my point. Heroes Con is an awesome, awesome old school con where no one complains about much of anything, and you will be able to make connections and promotions and NOT have to deal with the major stress of Comic-con. Why SHOULDN”T you go! Trust me, if you absotively, posilutely HAD to be at Comic-Con…you would be there.

    That is how it works.

    In the meantime, New York Comic-Con is coming along to create its own powerful niche, there’s WonderCon, Heroes Con, and other “regional” shows to give us the old fashioned joys and pleasures of comic-conning. Heck, even the Wizard shows are undergoing an upgrade, we hear.

  17. As for shuttle buses — I’ve gotta add that the Con should make arrangements for shuttle buses to the outlying Hotel Circle area on either side of I-8 near the Fashion Valley mall. Even though the city’s buses do go to/from the Fashion Valley Bus/Trolley transfer center, it’s a cockeyed situation where one route goes away from the mall through Hotel Circle North to the Old Town transfer station and comes back through Hotel Circle South.

    Other routes do go through the area, but their destinations aren’t the Old Town transit center — they’re headed toward downtown at half the speed of a Trolley. Conversely, even if you take an MTS bus to the Fashion Valley transfer center and hop on the Trolley, you more or less have to transfer at least two more times to different trolley lines. You take the bus from Hotel Circle, the trolley’s Green Line from Fashion Valley to Old Town, the Blue Line from Old Town to America Plaza and then the Orange Line from America Plaza to the Convention Center. And a LOT of con goers park at Fashion Valley Mall or Qualcomm Stadium, so the Trolley is *always* packed at all times during the day from Wednesday morning through Sunday night. The trolleys often have their own humid weather systems inside as a result.

    Yes, there’s the Special Event Trolley that goes straight through from Qualcomm to the Convention Center with no transfers at Old Town or America Plaza, but 1) catching one is like winning the lottery and 2) it’s always packed.

    A Shuttle Bus that starts every 15 minutes through 1am at the Convention Center and ends at Fashion Valley, with the only stops being the hotels along the Circles would be a *vast* improvement in the transportation situation.

    — Rob

  18. Anyone complaining about availability of hotels in San Diego is a baby and a whiner. Also, they’ve never been to a real convention of any type and tried to get a room.

    I’ve been going for five years and have had rooms right next door and out in Hotel Circle. Guess what – it’s not that big a difference in experience. I’ve both rented a car, taken the trolley and gotten cabs – depending on what activities I had going and how much I was intending to buy that day.

    On top of that, I’ve been able to get decent rooms at competitive rates at the very last minute (one year, my work plans changed about a week before, allowing me to go).

    I’ve been to normal conventions in New York, SF, Chicago, Houston and Orlando. SD is much, much nicer than all of those, logistically. And a hell of a lot more pleasant than Vegas.

  21. Regarding shuttle buses: Although they are “free” to convention attendees, they actually cost CCI a bundle. From what I understand, the room rates for hotels on the shuttle routes have a shuttle fee built into them, but it isn’t nearly enough to offset the gigantic costs. Since CCI has pretty much reached its capacity for both attendees and exhibitors, things like adding shuttle routes out to hotel circle would seriously strain the budget.

  22. Having lived in San Diego for awhile a few years back, there are public buses and the trolley that run from Old Town, Coronado and Mission Valley to the center. That’s how most San Diegan’s get there. I think the idea is you can use those to get to broadway then take a shuttle from there.

    The shuttles on the Convention side of broadway make it convenient for both hotel guests and local San Diegans.

    Dropping them and moving them to the other side would probably screw up a majority or the people who go to the show since tons of actual San Diegans go there.

    I think adding buses on the other side of broadway could help but since they re selling out now I doubt there’s added revenue to support that if it is expensive and I can’t see renting even 1 bus for nearly a week as a cheep endeavor.

  23. In 2003 I went to SDCC for the first time. Friends and I drove from Canada and our route took us through Vegas. We arrived at midnight, stayed at a Travelodge on the Strip and wandered around until 4AM, the “magical” time when there’s no one left awake but dead-eyed gamblers hunched over the slots (most of the tables were closed), dead-eyed heroin addicts begging on the sidewalks and drunk girls from Wisconsin stumbling along in their Old Navy dresses, shoes in their hands, swearing like longshoremen and puking in the potted ferns. The next morning we looked in vain for the mythical cheap buffets and ended up buying steeply overpriced breakfast burritos in a little strip mall. It was hot (110) and miserable. It was interesting and entertaining enough just to see famed Vegas, but by the time we left (around noon) none of us had any interest in ever coming back. No way would I ever go to a con there.

    I don’t mind San Diego. It’s pleasantly inoffensive, if not the most thrilling city in the world. Ralph’s is a godsend. The streets aren’t too scary at night. It has relaxing places to escape to like Balboa Park and the beach if you’re like me and don’t mind giving up the madness of Saturday for some peace and nerd-free quiet.

    Even so, I hit my SDCC limit last year and so I’m sitting 2008 out.

  24. Jackie, no one here’s pretending that the buses are free. Sheesh.

    Will, I’ve never seen or noticed people at any of my stops in 15 years that weren’t from the hotel at that stop, nor am I aware of any buses that stop by any major parking areas. I honestly think I would have noticed this at some point, but maybe I didn’t.

    In general, I assume there are all sorts of operational difficulties that would be a factor when it came to making happen any of my lightly offered suggestions on a chatboard. Dozens. I would love for my suggestions to have such irresistible power of fiat that they must therefore be objected to or become binding policy, but luckily for all of us they don’t.

    My point was that instead of this general dialogue where people bellow that they hate the con because they have to walk eight blocks from where they’re getting drunk or — gasp — drive in, perhaps making the con and its supporters feel that they have to defend themselves against or even simply endure this general frustration, we could all ease up a bit and have faith in the convention organizers to come up with solutions for what can be solved, with the general, long-range idea that more and more aspects of comics culture won’t be hectored or priced or hassled away from the show if they don’t need to be.

  25. I’ve noticed that Anaheim is made of hotels now. However I don’t know if their convention center is nearly large enough and it’s pretty hot and sweaty in that time of year too.

    I’m pretty much resigned to not getting a room via the convention. I don’t have an issue with that because there are only so many rooms for a gabillion people. The PROCESS is the issue. Whatever steps taken by TP to improve service on Room Rush 2008 was woefully insufficient.

  26. > Go buy that amount of comics,
    > call 20 friends, order ten pizzas,
    > download a bunch of creator podcasts,
    > and have Stay At Home Con 2008.

    Actually, that sounds kinda fun. I might have a Stay At Home Con… right now.

  27. Screw Las Vegas!

    It’s an evil, wicked, and vile hell-hole, built up on the blood of a million broken dreams.
    Leave it to the grifters, suckers and winos.

    Leave Comic Con International where it is.

    But…
    If they really need to get bigger, it’s really very simple.

    Move the Wonder Con to San Diego, and Comic Con International to San Francisco. There is plenty of room for growth if they use the entire Moscone center.

  28. Viva Las Vegas! SDCC out grew SD about 3 years ago, and the city dumps on the con and the attendees every year. Moving it would reduce the H’wood presence? A HUNDRED PLUS! lets have some desert heat and fewer parties for scenesters

  29. I agree with Scott B and a couple of others who have mentioned space. I know I have talked to a couple of publishers who are also on a long list of people unable to get a table this year. And it’s not just small press – even MGM Studios was on the list at the time one publisher spoke with the Con people. Aparently the hall has been getting too full and they were busted for violating fire codes so this year they HAVE to follow the rules, making for less display space. It’s a problem! I don’t know that moving it to Vegas is the answer, but SOMETHING should be done.

  30. Tom: I was referring to the suggestion that a few people have made of having shuttle buses that run to outlying areas such as Mission Valley, which would be very expensive to run. FYI: There are indeed parking structures on the shuttle route so that people can indeed park and ride.

    Jackie

  31. SD is a great city to walk in. I enjoyed the morning strolls from the art museum/bus station to the convention center, a leisurely way to start a busy day.
    As a Nebraska native who used to walk two miles, uphill both ways, in all sorts of weather to get my comics, weather doesn’t bother me. That’s why air conditioning exists.
    As for the cost of shuttle buses, studios can pay for advertising, both on the outside and inside with monitors showing upcoming trailers. They could even have a publicity agent acting like a tour guide, handing out fliers, answering questions.
    Is all of the hotel ballroom/meeting room space maximized? Could the studios each have a dedicated room which would be a destination, pulling some of the crowds from the con floor?
    I know the taxi drivers would hate this, but why doesn’t the convention bureau lobby the transit company to offer a new bus route which runs from the circle to the convention center? Lots of money to be made from tourists!

  32. Moving CCI to Las Vegas? I’d go.

    Keeping it in San Diego guarantees me never going. It’s too pricey for airfare and hotels (assuming you even get the one you want).

    Moving it to Las Vegas, even in July, would increase the number of attendees. Yes, it’s hot there in July, but MOST of the people would be inside during the hottest part of the day anyway. Plus, if they hold it at the LV Convention Center, it’s near the Hilton AND the Monorail system. It’s EXTREMELY easy to get there, and the monorail is well shaded too.

    I know people want things to never change and keep them the same, but San Diego is way too jam-packed now. It just cannot grow. Getting to and from the con sucks. And it’s a venue I have no interest in ever attending again.

    So if it’s just an issue of how hot it is in Las Vegas in July, the average high there is 106 and the average low is 74. In San Diego it’s 75 and 63. But, again, with the con being held during the day, the heat is not an issue anyway, it’s just an excuse.

    Move the con to Las Vegas and get more people there (myself included) or keep it where it’s at and it’ll just become more uncomfortably packed.

  33. “Heck, even the Wizard shows are undergoing an upgrade, we hear.”

    Yeah, they’re moving up to the 7th level of Hell.

  35. Jackie: Thanks for the info on the hotel shuttle buses and the costs involved. This brings to mind a new question: would there be any way to make arrangements with the MTS to add Special Event Buses for the Hotel Circles — I mean, Fashion Valley with Hotel Circle stops through Old Town and then directly all the way down to the convention center with no other stops between. Every fifteen minutes 8am-7pm, half-hour in the early morning and from 7pm to 1am (2am on Saturday)?

    Honestly, I’d rather do a Special Event Bus through the city than do either a regular three-transfer trolley trip or try to luck into a Special Event Trolley. I would bet that a Special Event Bus through the Hotel Circles would likewise ease the trolley load, especially to/from Old Town.

    And before the MTS would say, “But we don’t get a lot of people jumping on the regular buses on the Hotel Circle routes as it is!,” all I’ve got to say is that a Circles-centered Event Bus that goes straight through after the Old Town stop would probably result in more people parking at Fashion Valley just to get a no-transfers straight shot to the Convention Center. And if MTS were *still* concerned about how overcrowded the parking already is at Old Town, then the simple answer would be to skip Old Town entirely and just head to the Convention Center at the Taylor on/off-ramps to I-8 over to I-5.

    I’d love me them four-day Daytrippers even more than I already do, lemmetellya.

    Okay, yeah, I’m getting technical, but OTOH, I’ve been staying at the Hotel Circle hotels every year since I moved away from SD in 2004, so I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Especially the one time that I took the wrong bus up to Clairemont Mesa that I habitually took when I worked at the VA in La Jolla. Oy! ;)

    — Rob

  36. Actually I would not object if Comic-Con were twice the size it is now — provided there is sufficient exhibit space for all comers, and sufficient accessible hotel space for attendees.

  37. That con in 2003 in Las Vegas was awesome for all the reasons Christopher Moonlight mentioned. I spent a whole day listening to some people I really respect shooting the shit and eating crappy sandwiches. It was not good if you wanted to make money, but then it was basically a startup project run by morons. (Extrosion!)

    Keeping it from artificially growing because there’s no room and “besides, who wants more people at Comic Con” seems ridiculous to me since moving would give it bigger space and more hotel rooms. It should be a gauntlet to see and do all the stuff you want to do; it shouldn’t be a gauntlet just to attend.

    Also, 110 degrees is nice in Las Vegas — because it’s dry and everyone has air conditioning. Now, summers in Chicago? 80 degrees plus 80 percent humidity and no one has central air? Please kill me if I have to be here another summer.

  38. If you want a smaller, comics-oriented convention, with cheaper and easier-to-book hotels, in a great city, organized by the same guys who put on the San Diego Con, go to Wonder Con. It’s in a couple of weeks.

  39. I want to say I want to go back to SDCC some year soon. I am going to be at Science Fiction Worldcon this year for something different. I am excited about going. SDCC is as much a part of San Diego as Baltimore is as part of Otakon. They are part of the fannish morale in those cities. Take SD Comic Con out of San Diego and it makes San Diego a minor league fandom city. San Diego is a great convention city.

  40. “Heck, even the Wizard shows are undergoing an upgrade, we hear.”
    …someone needs to stop reading press releases. Upgrading shit can still yield shit.

    “the heat is not an issue anyway, it’s just an excuse.”
    …excuse this. the thought of over 100,000 comics fans in Vegas is overwhelming, in an olfactory sort of way we can only hope the show “grows” then…

    i like the thought that san diego is san diego, like telluride is telluride. the sense of entitlement that comics fans have is ludicrous.

  41. Anyone who thinks 110 is “nice” in Vegas is selling water.

    The air conditioning at San Diego can barely keep up with the hordes. It would certainly be vanquished in Vegas. Contrary to what the scenes on Tatooine would have us believe, stormtroopers can’t handle heat very well.

  42. Kevin: Does anyone really WANT the show to grow?

    *******************

    The show growing means more exposure and more fans & pros coming, meaning more money being made.

    By the way, I should mention I’ve been to other types of conventions in Las Vegas at its HOTTEST and their air conditioning is the best in the world. There’s never been a problem. And these are cnventions that make CCI look like a little get-together of a few friends.

    If they can handle 250,000 people a day for a week straight with nary a problem, save for having to wait in line to get in, I think 100,000 people is a walk in the park.

    Las Vegas is now connected with a monorail. You can literally go from one end of the strip to the other (MGM Grand to Hilton) with only having to wait outside for about 5-10 minutes (if you’re staying at one of the hotels connected to the system), and then walking another 5 minutes or so to your destination. And the monorail is connected to the convention center itself. Plus Las Vegas has MANY hotel options and cabs running 24/7 as well.

    The only reason people keep saying no is because of the temperature. But when you’re inside during the hottest part of the day, it’s a non-factor. It’s extremely easy to avoid being outside for long periods of time during the day anyway.

    I know SDCC is SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON, but Chicago’s Convention is no longer IN Chicago proper, but one the burbs. Yes, moving to Las Vegas is a hell of a lot longer of a move, but it affords the chance for the con to grow and to give people chance at going.

    Out of sheer curiosity, I did a check of airfare (out of Chicago) and hotel… I used Flamingo (since I love staying there) as the hotel of choice and it’s on the monorail system. Flying in on the morning of the 23rd of July and flying out mid-afternoon on the 27th, it’ll cost you just under $730. For San Diego I’m picking a hotel within walking distance (Embassey Suites) and flying in and out at a similar time. The costs you’re looking at is about $1,150 ($345 for airfaire and $800 for hotel), and that’s not including hotel taxes.

    I don’t about anyone else, but saving nearly $500 is worth the move to me. At least then you can buy stuff and eat! Believe me, it’ll cost less to go there, hold it there, and to expand it.

  43. Jackie, thanks for the clarification. Boy was I grumpy on Friday.

    I think Vegas and even Anaheim/LA might be on the table right now if the convention were expected to continue to grow at the rate it has since 2000. But since it can’t grow much more, if at all, I don’t think it’s an issue. They might go *back* on the table if the city becomes hostile, which is always a possibility as they seem to undervalue the con, or if the industry changes drastically, which it might.

    I’m not sure that anyone yet even understands the last great influx of people enough to make any decisions or predictions about the future. We are a really bad and unrepresentative sample, after all. It’s all those people in the big line that are going to drive the car.

    There’s all sorts of macro issues, too. The kind of movies and TV shows that have a specific interest in doing something with CCI could cycle out in 36 months if tastes were to change in a certain, even slight way. These kinds of changes happen all the time. Many small alternative publishers and cartoonists have already put their focus elsewhere. A revitalized Wizard convention schedule could have an effect on the size and commitment from Marvel. Changes in the retail market are having a definite effect on retailers. And so on.

    The exciting thing is that attendance is near its limit, so plans can be made according to a kind of expected baseline experience, which we should all get better at negotiating over the next couple of years.

  44. Kevin, unless there’s a similarly large convention in Las Vegas on CCI weekend, you probably can’t directly compare staying in Las Vegas with staying in San Diego on those dates.

    Although actually I think CCI should move to Vegas so we can properly bet on the Eisners.

  45. Unfortunately … REALITY is the thing you must deal with.

    San Diego is probably the biggest comic convention in the world … BUT … will it remain that way? Everything has a life cycle. Who can say for certain that Hollywood will still have a love affair with the comic industry in five, ten, twenty years? What if “geek culture” is “so yesterday” in a few years, and internet start-ups begin catering a different niche?

    San Diego Con has 100,00+ attendees … but how would things change if the attendance went down to a mere 75,000 – 90,000? Changing locations would be a wasted effort.

    And, no … don’t say it’ll never happen …

  46. Honestly, this is all a non-issue until the contract SDCCI has with the San Diego Convention Center runs out in 2011. So, look forward to three more years of San Diego.

    And, for those of you that want to move to Las Vegas, consider this: all of Comic-Con’s exec board members, i.e., the people that have put together SDCCI since it began, are all San Diego natives. I’m not sure how they would feel about having to haul it up to Las Vegas for what began as their “hometown” convention. And, of course, these are the people making the decisions on whether or not SDCCI should move…

    Lastly, contrary to popular belief, the point of SDCCI ISN’T to make money– it’s a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about comics and pop culture as a whole…

  47. You, sir, are an idiot.

    The primary appeal of Comic-Con is NOT the location. If you moved everything about the con to Fargo, North Dakota, the only thing different would be the temperature. Sweaty nerds in unwashed costumes wouldn’t smell as foul. Also, San Diego gets plenty hot if you’re walking around. Wouldn’t it be nice if San Diego had covered walkways and monorail service? Oh right, that’s Vegas.

    “Name us one other American city with perfect weather…”

    San Diego is does NOT have perfect weather. It’s hot and sticky.

    “…a giant convention center right on the oceanside…”

    Vegas has a GINORMOUS convention center that can actually meet the ever growing needs of Comic-Con. We have rooms that dwarf Hall H. The SDCC is at its limit. It can never get much bigger without an incredibly major renovation.

    “…7000 hotel rooms within actual walking distance of the convention center…”

    Wrong. Most people outside the gaslamp take the con shuttle or the trolley or car in from chula vista or coronado. Vegas has way more rooms in a smaller area.

    “…150 cute, trendy and tasty restaurants from every world cuisine within walking distance…”

    Vegas has more. Try getting a table at around 5 or 6 pm on a con day. There’s a 2 hour wait. And aside from Dick’s Last Resort, they’re all expensive.

    “…And a mall…”

    Vegas has 2 incredible malls right on the Strip, plus world class shopping all over the place.

    “… And a Ralphs.”

    Vegas has plenty of grocery stores. Locals need to eat too. We don’t have nearly as many bums lurking around though.

    “You can hold comic book conventions anywhere else in the world you want to — and they do — but none of them will ever have all the factors that combine to make San Diego the most desirable location for the kind of show it has become.”

    That statement has no basis in fact. It’s a poorly supported opinion.

    “…Now Vegas, as everyone has pointed out, Vegas is stronger than dirt and bigger than anything, bigger than anything you can imagine. The convention would be swallowed up whole instead of taking over the town. ”

    Are you saying that Vegas’ culture would overshadow the con culture? You are mistaken, and clearly you have never lived in Vegas. Vegas absorbs the culture of any major event it hosts. Come to Vegas for CES and you’ll see what I mean.

    “…PLUS, Hollywood execs wouldn’t be able to just “buzz down” to the con. Granted, Vegas is only a four hour drive from LA, but it’s still considered a longer trip than San Diego is.”

    You defeated your own argument there. When last I checked, 4 hours is not longer than 5 or 6. And when last I checked, the traffic going into San Diego sucks. Studio execs love to come to Vegas. It’s VEGAS.

    “…DOUBLE PLUS: Hollywood already holds a convention to trot out their new movies and stars in Las Vegas every year — it’s called ShoWest. They don’t need another one.”

    Wrong again. ShoWest is for the industry. Fans don’t go to ShoWest. I’m truly amazed by your utter lack of knowledge on this whole subject.

    Though it’s true that this IS a non-issue until the contract CCI has with SDCC runs out in 2011, the organizers of CCI, in order to do their due diligence as caretakers of this nothing-short-of-glorious convention and uphold their responsibility to bring the attendees a quality experience in years to come, should… nay – MUST, begin to look at the logisitics of holding this in Las Vegas.

  48. You, sir or ma’am, are an idiot.

    The primary appeal of Comic-Con is NOT the location. If you moved everything about the con to Fargo, North Dakota, the only thing different would be the temperature. Sweaty nerds in unwashed costumes wouldn’t smell as foul. Also, San Diego gets plenty hot if you’re walking around. Wouldn’t it be nice if San Diego had covered walkways and monorail service? Oh right, that’s Vegas.

    “Name us one other American city with perfect weather…”

    San Diego is does NOT have perfect weather. It’s hot and sticky.

    “…a giant convention center right on the oceanside…”

    Vegas has a GINORMOUS convention center that can actually meet the ever growing needs of Comic-Con. We have rooms that dwarf Hall H. The SDCC is at its limit. It can never get much bigger without an incredibly major renovation.

    “…7000 hotel rooms within actual walking distance of the convention center…”

    Wrong. Most people outside the gaslamp take the con shuttle or the trolley or car in from chula vista or coronado. Vegas has way more rooms in a smaller area.

    “…150 cute, trendy and tasty restaurants from every world cuisine within walking distance…”

    Vegas has more. Try getting a table at around 5 or 6 pm on a con day. There’s a 2 hour wait. And aside from Dick’s Last Resort, they’re all expensive.

    “…And a mall…”

    Vegas has 2 incredible malls right on the Strip, plus world class shopping all over the place.

    “… And a Ralphs.”

    Vegas has plenty of grocery stores. Locals need to eat too. We don’t have nearly as many bums lurking around though.

    “You can hold comic book conventions anywhere else in the world you want to — and they do — but none of them will ever have all the factors that combine to make San Diego the most desirable location for the kind of show it has become.”

    That statement has no basis in fact. It’s a poorly supported opinion.

    “…Now Vegas, as everyone has pointed out, Vegas is stronger than dirt and bigger than anything, bigger than anything you can imagine. The convention would be swallowed up whole instead of taking over the town. ”

    Are you saying that Vegas’ culture would overshadow the con culture? You are mistaken, and clearly you have never lived in Vegas. Vegas absorbs the culture of any major event it hosts. Come to Vegas for CES and you’ll see what I mean.

    “…PLUS, Hollywood execs wouldn’t be able to just “buzz down” to the con. Granted, Vegas is only a four hour drive from LA, but it’s still considered a longer trip than San Diego is.”

    You defeated your own argument there. When last I checked, 4 hours is not longer than 5 or 6. And when last I checked, the traffic going into San Diego sucks. Studio execs love to come to Vegas. It’s VEGAS.

    “…DOUBLE PLUS: Hollywood already holds a convention to trot out their new movies and stars in Las Vegas every year — it’s called ShoWest. They don’t need another one.”

    Wrong again. ShoWest is for the industry. Fans don’t go to ShoWest. I’m truly amazed by your utter lack of knowledge on this whole subject.

    Though it’s true that this IS a non-issue until the contract CCI has with SDCC runs out in 2011, the organizers of CCI, in order to do their due diligence as caretakers of this nothing-short-of-glorious convention and uphold their responsibility to bring the attendees a quality experience in years to come, should… nay – MUST, begin to look at the logisitics of holding this in Las Vegas.