Friday, July 27, 2007

Comic-Con moving to Las Vegas 2008?

edit**

Looks like my sources are wrong. And that Comic Con wil be staying in SD unti 2012. So then it was a rumor all along.
We'll see what happens.



It's what I'm hearing from several people. Word is that this will be the last year that Comic-Con will be in San Diego.

All days but Sunday are sold-out at the moment. It would make sense to move it to a bigger venue. Bigger Venue+ Las Vegas= $$$.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

proof please!!!

Tania said...

wish i could give you some concrete proof, but i can't. it's just what i've been hearing from several sources. i'm waiting for an official announcement or something else as well - that's why I put the question mark. :)

Anonymous said...

That's BOGUS.

Comic-Con had just extended their contract with the San Diego Convention Center through 2012.

Comic-Con will stay in San Diego.

However, they could always start up a new convention just for Las Vegas -- just like they started up WonderCon for San Francisco.

Tania said...

really? I didn't know that. I'll check it out. Very true, they can do their own thing, but it wouldn't be as successful.

Anonymous said...

The Comic-Con has been in San Diego for OVER THIRTY YEARS. I've been going to most of them since the late 1970s. You can't believe that the Comic-Con will just up and move just like that.

There's always been these rumors popping up every other year it seems. Several years ago there was talk about how a survey would be circulated to find out if people would be receptive to moving Comic-Con to LOS ANGELES. Did you ever see such a survey? Did Comic-Con move to Los Angeles? I think it was some Hollywood people who were behind that nonsense because they only see Los Angeles as the center of the entertainment world.

The closest thing to a "move" that has ever been done is more like an expansion in how Comic Con International (the actual non-profit organization that runs the Comic-Con) set up and are running WonderCon in San Francisco for the last few years. If anything happens in Las Vegas, it would be most likely be an expansion and not an all out move where a new convention is an expansion of the overall operation run by Comic Con International. Comic Con International is a non-profit and they are not going to do something without proper prior planning with input from people and where anything would have to be within their non-profit mission.

They can't just move to say some place like Las Vegas for NEXT YEAR. You have to keep in mind that they can't just up-root a convention just like that. If they were to move everything to Las Vegas, they would be breaking contracts. And then you have the the City of San Diego government agencies in an uproar and begging Comic-Con to stay and then they would be giving Comic-Con even more breaks and discounts to stay.

The Comic-Con has a contract with the San Diego Convention Center through 2012. This was reported in the San Diego Union Tribune the other day. Any talk about the Comic-Con moving to Las Vegas for 2008 is sheer NONSENSE.

These rumors are probably being started by fools who are upset that the Comic Con 2007 is SOLD OUT and they or their friends CAN'T GET IN. Or they tried to get to a scheduled panel that was for their favorite TV show or movie BUT they were turned away by the Fire Marshal because the room was TOO FULL. The motivation for any such rumor-mongering is that more people can't get in and so they are throwing out ideas which become rumors about how to get more convention space and then you have these rumors.

Or the rumors are being started by JEALOUS convention organizers in Las Vegas who want to get this very successful convention to be in Las Vegas so that Las Vegas can get all the money that people bring to the Comic-Con. The motivation here for spreading this type of rumor is greedy money-hungry people who want to pounce on this honorable non-profit operation. This convention is not in the red and is staying afloat and greedy people seeing only money and only want to get their hands on it to move this to Las Vegas. And if it moves to Las Vegas, you can believe that the people in control of Comic-Con will eventually be changed and then the Comic-Con become a for-profit corrupt operation.

Don't believe these rumors. My gawd, it looks like KGTV Channel 10 picked up on this nonsense! Comic-Con used to be a quick mention with some video of costumed -conventioneers during a 30-second segment on the local San Diego TV news. Now, Comic-Con is talked about on cable, on blog sites, special local TV news segments when TV watchers are told to stay tuned for details about the next day's Comic Con schedule with particular attention on when to see the movie stars at the Comic-Con, and also rumors about what's next for Comic Con being used as teases to make people watch the 11:00 PM news.

Anonymous said...

Don't say there's no more space.

If you want more space for popular Comic Con convention panels like for overcrowded panels for those new movies and TV shows, just have those panels over at PETCO PARK across the street from the San Diego Convention Center. If any of the panels become more like really huge concert-size events where the people can't fit in the room, just have those things over in nearby PETCO PARK across the street. If those panels become super gigantic concert-size approaching 10,000 people, you put all those fans in the stands at PETCO PARK which can hold 40,000 people, put the panelists and the movie stars on a stage on the baseball field, put a camera on them that shows them on the scoreboard's big screen, and show the film clips on the big screen on the scoreboard. Just go across the street and use PETCO PARK.

Or go drive a few blocks into downtown to use the convention facilities at the Community Concourse in the downtown San Diego civic center area where the Comic Con used to be held years ago. There are still convention facilities there to be used for more panels and for more exhibitor space. The Comic Con used to have the masquerade at the Civic Theater over there in that area before the San Diego Convention Center was expanded with that new construction that made the San Diego Convention Center building into a much larger longer building.

If you are going to expand the Comic Con in San Diego, put the main stuff in the San Diego Convention Center, put any overflow Comic Con events in the San Diego Community Concourse convention facilities, and put any super big concert-size Comic Con-related events in PETCO PARK. You don't have to move to Las Vegas when you can have everything here.

And there are the events that companies like Sony is bringing Comic Con convention goers off-site to their company facilities in San Diego to show off their videogames. Not everything has to be squeezed into the San Diego Convention Center.

Even if you move to Las Vegas, what's to say that any one convention facility over there is big enough. Some of the really big conventions that I've been to in Las Vegas can take place in several convention facilities that you have to shuttle between over in Las Vegas. You literally have to get into a shuttle bus van that drives you between convention facilities across town to go to different panels for one single convention. You could end up having to split up the Comic Con between different convention facilities if you move Comic Con to Las Vegas. Why do that there, when you can do that here in San Diego.

Or if you want to keep everything at the San Diego Convention Center, expand Comic Con to more days like have Comic Con start earlier like on Tuesday or Monday and have repeats of popular panels or have similar related panels that people can go to if they aren't able to get into the earlier one. And with more days, people could be spread out as to when they go to the dealers hall.

Moving to Las Vegas is total idiocy. Whoever is talking up these rumors about moving Comic Con to Las Vegas are probably frustrated people who can't get in. They don't know what could happen in the future if Comic Con has to really expand to hold more events, panels, etc. by staying in San Diego and the official Comic Con organizers probably already have these things in mind if they choose to expand beyond what they have to allow more people into the convention.

Unknown said...

I have also heard the rumors in the past of relocating to L.A. but this wrong. I agree that the space needs to be utilized better in the future. I have been attending for the last 7 years. I have seen in the 3 years an explosion. I think this is in part to a lot more movies studios brining in movies that have no relation to the comic genre. I was shut out of four panels due to overcrowding but I will still attend next year, I will just skip out on the weekends again.

Anonymous said...

DON'T FALL FOR THE RUMORS. THE RUMORS HAPPEN EVERY YEAR! AGH! THESE RUMORS ARE ACTUALLY COMPLAINTS STARTED ABOUT THE COMIC CON! I HATE HEARING ABOUT THESE RUMORS! ONCE YOU PUT THESE RUMORS ON THE WEB, PEOPLE ACTUALLY BELIEVE THEM!

Okay, I'll stop yelling. Here's something from today's San Diego Union Tribune newspaper (page C8) (Monday, July 30, 2007) as their wrap-up story on this year's SAN DIEGO COMIC CON:
http://www.signonsandiego.com
/uniontrib/20070730/news_lz1c30crowd.html

[begin quote]
"Every year, it seems, rumors have Comic-Con abandoning San Diego altogether for L.A., New York, Las Vegas ..."

[....]

"Last month, when anonymous sources insisted the show was on its way to Denver, Comic-Con's [David] Glanzer denied the rumors. In fact, he noted, the contract between Comic-Con and the San Diego Convention Center had been extended through 2012."

[end quote]

If you want to complain about overcrowding, look at what's happening in San Diego on the same weekend for COMIC CON this year. You have MORE PEOPLE coming to San Diego this year because the AMERICAN IDOL AUDITIONS are in San Diego this year. You had registration for AMERICAN IDOL at San Diego's QUALCOMM STADIUM on the same weekend as the COMIC CON with people waiting to audition on the Monday and Tuesday after the San Diego COMIC CON weekend. That's like at least 30,000 to 40,000 MORE PEOPLE for another event in San Diego for the same weekend. They all come in for the weekend to make sure they get to the stadium to register on Saturday to get their wrist band and seat ticket so they can get in on Monday when the auditions actually start. So you can expect that a whole lot of those people are going to go to the COMIC CON also. You have TV-crazed fans who go to AMERICAN IDOL and they would be attracted like moths-to-a-flame that they are going to want to go to COMIC CON to see all the media-related TV and Movie panels and stuff. And the AMERICAN IDOL AUDITIONS for the WEST COAST are ONLY in SAN DIEGO this year!

People who were coming in from elsewhere were having PROBLEMS getting Hotel Rooms on this weekend in SAN DIEGO because of ALL THE ROOMS throughout San Diego County being taken by people going to COMIC CON and people going to the AMERICAN IDOL AUDITIONS.

Be thankful that the AMERICAN IDOL AUDITIONS are at San Diego's older QUALCOMM STADIUM. Be thankful that the AMERICAN IDOL AUDITIONS are NOT at PETCO PARK!!! If that AMERICAN IDOL stuff was at PETCO PARK, you can bet that any overcrowding would have been WORSE because PETCO PARK is across the street from the SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTER where the COMIC CON is at! Imagine the MORE MADNESS there would have been!

You know how POPULAR the COMIC CON has become. You know how SUPER CRAZY POPULAR that AMERICAN IDOL is. Put those TWO TOGETHER and you have a MONSTER and then that gives rise to more of these RUMORS WHICH ARE REALLY BASED ON COMPLAINTS than as is usual.

So if you want to complain about lack of space and overcrowding at the COMIC CON, go BLAME the AMERICAN IDOL AUDITIONS!

Tania said...

There was a ton more people here this year than last year, but the overcrowding wasn't so bad. Granted, I wasn't at Comic Con, but I work downtown and it wasn't so bad. I got in and out without any problems.

American Idol auditions are nuts! I'm soooo glad they're not at Petco Park. Can you imagine that? there'd be no space.

And don't worry about yelling, it feels good to do so! :)

Anonymous said...

oh didn't you hear the latest rumor: when the Chargers move to Oceanside or Chula Vista, that Comic-Con will follow the Chargers to Oceanside or Chula Vista and change from the Comic-Con to the Chargers-Con because Chargers Training Camp begins on the same weekend that you have the Comic-Con? or how about this it's-going-to-really-happen rumor: the Comic-Con will definitely move next year to "Las Vegas" but actually via China to the newly developed Shanghai Las Vegas Casinos outside Hong Kong and to be held in conjunction with the Beijing 2008 China Summer Olympics to help promote China's market for counterfeit comic books, movies, DVDs, etc. or that the local Indian casinos are courting the Comic-Con to move to Barona or some other Indian casino where they promise to build the largest convention buildings to hold the largest Comic-Con ever. or....

seriously, Comic-Con was really great but crowded. you can usually gauge the size of the Comic-Con by going inside the dealers room which is like HUGE like several several several several (did i say several already) football fields long (and wide). and if you find yourself having to wade through crowds with people to front of you, to the back or you, to the left and to right of you, where there is only six inches (or less) of separation between you and the next person (ahem persons all around you) as you navigate through some of the aisles that were really packed with people, then you know it's crowded. saturday is usually the most crowded and sunday is supposed to be slower. but this year, sunday was really crowded and seemed more like having a second crowded saturday. as for those panels for the hollywood stuff, that's really not unusual if the rooms are packed and if they have to close the doors on people waiting in line to get in the room. nowadays it's not unusual to fill up a room with capacity for only 4000 or 6000 people for one of those hollywood panels. just get in line and get there early or you don't get it. or go to one of the many other panels that are being held at the same time, or go watch one of the movies or anime cartoons being held in one of the other rooms which is over down that away through that hall, or go downstairs and wade through the crowds in the dealers room. but you know the Comic-Con is crowded if it gets sold out and that makes the evening news.

if you were nowhere in the immediate vicinity of the convention center area, then you did not experience any of the so-called "over-crowding." (get real! you have to expect a lot of people at the Comic-Con! all whiners should just stay home and quit spreading rumors!) but it was like one big ultimate gigantic flash mob.

and speaking of mobs, there was that zombie march that i guess went from balboa park to the convention center on saturday. people like traveling to do those zombie things. so more freaks come into town.

and they had that thing at the "Park at the Park" with all the Padres fans going to Petco to watch the on the big screen as Tony Gwynn gets inducted into the baseball hall of fame. i saw a bunch of people there were both doing the padres thing and the comic-con thing that day.

so you had all of those people converging into the area around the convention center during the weekend with a combination of comic-con fans, padres fans, zombie walkers, american idol singers and no-talent non-singers who had nothing to do while they were waiting for the american idol auditions to begin, and whoever else happen to stumble into the area.

oh the humanity!

Anonymous said...

The San Diego Union newspaper was saying there was something like 150,000 people who went to the Comic Con this year. I think they said something like 130,000 for last year. So it's like 20,000 more than last year? American Idol had to have caused the increase. So you go to the Comic Con masquerade to see all the costumed people on Saturday and then you go watch the bad singing American Idol want-a-be singers on Monday. Whoa. What Fun!

Tania said...

haha!

i am so glad i was nowhere near downtown this weekend! i experienced on Friday, but that's about it.

If you're going to Comic Con, you HAVE to know what you're getting into, right? I mean, it's no surprise to have a mob of people there. If you can't handle it, get away from there.

You're right. There were way too many events going on this weekend and since Comic con is the largest of them all, it all got thrown towards it. Sucks.

Anonymous said...

Don't Believe Rumors from any
so-called "Sources" who probably
don't know anything that's truly
factual at all.

Official Word is:
Comic-Con 2008 is in San Diego
on July 24-27, 2008, at the
San Diego Convention Center.

Go straight to the source
for the official information:
http://www.comic-con.org

Anonymous said...

I went to the Comic-Con this past weekend and it was FUN! Right now, I'm looking at the souvenir book that they were giving out to everyone who attended the Comic-Con. And it says SAN DIEGO Comic-Con International on the cover and inside on the first page with the two welcome messages from their president and their PR director with their signatures saying that they are SAN DIEGO Comic-Con International.

And one of the welcome messages ends by stating:

"To our 'regulars,' thanks for joining us again this year -- we're glad you're back! And to the new attendees, we hope you have a great time this year and will be joining us again for years to come."

REPEAT: "... FOR YEARS TO COME." That sounds like that real intent is that the Comic-Con is here to stay in San Diego ... FOR YEARS TO COME.

Oh, in the souvenir book, they say SAN DIEGO (or more exactly: "San Diego Comic-Con International") at the top of just about every page of the souvenir book also. That's like at the top of every page of a 190 page souvenir book. It seems like they are screaming SAN DIEGO at every chance they get to let people know that the Comic-Con is and always will be a part of SAN DIEGO.

Don't believe the rumors. Don't spread the rumors.

Just go to the Comic-Con and Enjoy!

Oh one last thing. If you actually go to the Comic-Con, you would see how organized and well-planned it all is for such a huge convention. There may be a lot of people going to it, but it's NOT like out of control and NOT anything chaotic. Don't believe the rumors about it moving.

Thanks for your time.

Tania said...

I'm glad it'll stay in SD. It's a great economy booster. I've heard from friends that it was well organized, crazy packed, but well-organized. I'll probably end up going next year - maybe. I work downtown, so sometimes I just want to get away as soon as I can!

Thanks for your time and your reply!

Anonymous said...

Hi again. If you go, wear your walking shoes because you will do a LOT of walking all day. Bring your camera too to take pictures of all of the neat stuff that you will see. (I don't buy anything but just go to see all the stuff and take lots and lots and lots of pictures.) Bring your own lunch and a bottle of water. I bought some cheap sandwiches from the deli at my local supermarket. The food at the convention center can be pricey! If you go, you will be amazed at all the stuff you will see. For me, it's better than going to Disneyland!

If you definitely want to go, then pre-register online. Otherwise, you never know that it could sell out again next year. It sold out for only saturday last year for 2006. And it sold out for friday, saturday, and sunday this past weekend this year for 2007 with people rushing to pre-register online like the day before the actual weekend days for the Comic-Con. There should be no american idol audition craziness next year, but you never know. It's cheaper when you pre-register, but if you wait to pay at the door for only one day then i think it's like $25 friday, $30 saturday, $15 sunday. friday and saturday are the days to go if you are into the TV and movie stuff -- like on saturday they had the new bionic woman tv show with both the pilot episode and the stars from the show!

If you are on the fence as far as going to the Comic-Con next year, you can wait for the morning that you want to go to see if it's sold out (go to the Comic-Con website to see if it's sold out for that day) and if it is, then the decision has been made for you and you can sit back and later watch the craziness on the news on the TV as well as read all the blog news reports from people who went to the Comic-Con.

blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?q=comic-con

Thanks for reading!

Anonymous said...

Comic-Con's organizers SHOULD begin to think about moving the venue if the SDCC cannot provide more space for exhibits and panels. As it is, the convention floor is crowded and could really use all that space in Hall H for show floor exhibits. I do not agree with moving the Hall H presentations to Petco Park or somewhere else, due to the disconnect between locations. If I had to take a bus or walk to a completely other building across busy streets and into a Stadium to see a presentation, I wouldn't go. The beauty of the SDCC is that it's self contained. But if it's not big enough, it's simply not big enough. The Las Vegas Convention Center has FAR more room, both overall and in terms of meeting spaces and contiguous show floor space.

As for hotel rooms, every year San Diego hotel severely jack up the prices of all the hotel rooms around con time. San Diego does not have nearly the hotel room availability that Las Vegas has, nor do they have Las Vegas' hotel room growth rate. Transportation in and out of Las Vegas is more plentiful and cheaper. Las Vegas does not jack up the room rates as severely as San Diego does during large conventions.

I'm not just blowing smoke here. Look up the numbers for yourself.

With the con growing as it is, it makes perfect sense to move the con to Las Vegas at the earliest opportunity.