As early as 2017 we might soon no longer be able to refer to the largest Comic-Con International as the San Diego Comic-Con, or its shortened form the SDCC. While the Con has inhabited the San Diego Convention Center since 1970, as the old saying goes “all good things must come to an end.” While the convention center has been expanding over the years to try and meet the demands placed on it (primarily from this convention), it looks as if the San Diego City Council isn’t sure they want to go out of their way to keep it in the city anymore.
The council has decided to not appeal a court decision that is trying to end plans in expanding the convention center. This plan would have ended up placing a levy on all of the hotels in the area to raise $520 million of the costs to expand the convention center whose construction was set to begin later this year. Now it looks like that it may be being scrubbed.
According to council president Todd Gloria, “We’re going to have to spend some time figuring out a way to pay for this project or find a new one.”
So it isn’t exactly cancelled quite yet, it seems hard to see how they will raise the funds in time from an alternate source.
While that number may seem high, the five day event pulls in $180 million to the city every year. Not exactly a drop in the bucket for the city’s expenses so it seems a little surprising that there wouldn’t be a push to keep them coming back.
Interestingly enough, this exact construction is part of why Comic-Con International has agreed to stay in the city through 2016 that was signed back in 2012. If it is no longer happening we may see the largest convention for comic, science fiction, and horror lovers be moving locations in 2017.
In an official statement by SDCC’s David Glanzer, he said that there are many factors and not just this construction that weigh in on where the convention calls home as “any decision to remain in San Diego has always been based on a variety of issues, including hotel room rates, available meeting space and other concerns, none of which necessarily override the other.” He also didn’t criticize the city in their decision as the convention is “grateful that the mayor, city officials, hoteliers and convention center staff have worked to help mitigate our space concerns and are happy that we have a continuous dialogue with those entities. We hope there will be a solution that allows Comic-Con to stay in San Diego for years to come.”
Do you think the city and SDCC will find a way to keep things moving forward? If not where would you like to see Comic-Con International setup shop next?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
