The article title from the San Diego News Network says it all: Pow! San Diego fights other cities to keep Comic-Con; the show has a “profound” fiscal impact on the city, and behind the scenes a battle is going on to fend off offers from LA and Vegas:
Comic-Con generates $16 million in direct spending and $38 million in indirect spending for the city, said Johnson. This means that the event’s 126,000 attendees each year drop $16 million on services such as hotels, car rentals and restaurants, which has a ripple effect throughout the economy of more than double that amount.
“When you bring that kind of money into the region, it’s like a rock in a pond,” said Johnson.
San Diego’s hotel occupancy rate during Comic-Con is the highest for the county during the entire year, said Johnson. Occupancy rates for the county’s 54,000 hotel rooms average 98 percent each day during the four-day event, he said.
So SD is finally acknowledging that although SDCC convention goers may not spend as much, outright, as some of those attending the other conventions, that, in sheer numbers, the economic impact of SDCC IS relevant? ;)
oh, so NOW they appreciate those pesky comic people, oh, okay,,,,
THE MAN LISTENS TO THE NERD WITH CASH!
Well, after that “Pow!” sales pitch, how could they not acknowledge the con’s impact?
Again, as long as the SDCC people make no move to leave, nothing will change. That’s the long and short of it, until new management replaces the people in place (not happening any day soon) or unless something major changes that makes SDCC sell out in days or minutes, not months.
And, if the SDCC organizers really wanted to grow attendance, they wouldn’t stay in SD. But they would be out of their comfort zone in Socal, and they want none of that. Also, the organization that runs SDCC, if I’m not mistaken, is a non-profit venture that generates conservatively $9 million alone on admissions (using the simple math of taking $75 for a 5-day pass multiplied by 125,000, knowing people who buy day passes pay more), not to mention table fees and concessions.
A non-profit venture, albeit with many moving parts that have to be paid…
BTW, if the city won’t pony up for a new Chargers Stadium, how in the wonderful world of Disney does anybody expect them to be able to afford a convention center expansion? And, should they?
It’s really funny to see that SDCC isn’t important to the city of SD except when it is.
The SDCC peeps have a lot of experience throwing two shows in far-away San Francisco (APE and WonderCon), so they know how to run a show outside their back yard
Just sayin’.
According to one informed source, San Diego is in such poor financial shape that it will have trouble financing any projects:
It appears that Glanzer is open to the idea of moving the con:
Hey Beat Babe: Not sure SF is that big a deal for the SDCCers, and it’s certainly not in a different state, whereas LV, NYC, LA and Chicago are WAY different convention sites, with their own sets of challenges and rewards.
Again, I’m of the opinion the SDCCers won’t leave their home base until costs become so uncomfortable as to be unsupportable to continue at the convention center. That ain’t happening for a little while.
Hey Synsidar: Watch what the SDCCers actually DO, not what they say. I’d like to think they would be forward-thinking enough to seek an alternate spot for future shows (you’d need a new venue in place two years out to make it happen), but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. If ticket demand grows to the degree that sellouts happen almost overnight, that’s when I’d expect something to change.
Who knows? It might change before then, should SD be in the mix to host the Republican Party convention in 2012, because of the requisite time needed for security and nonsuch…
Was it 1996 or 2000 when the rep convention forced SD to be much earlier that year?
The Repubs’ convention was in 1996.
SRS
Speculation about SDCC moving somewhere else was a topic in 2008, too:
However, Glanzer gave San Diego some time in these 2009 comments:
I doubt that I’d get enough out of the con to justify the expense, but it seems like the con would be a fun thing to attend. The “body-odor issues” could be troublesome, but I’d manage.
SRS