San Diego Comic-Con Will Stay In San Diego Through At Least 2024
No need to change the acronym: San Diego Comic-Con is staying in San Diego, at least for the next few years. Comic-Con International's current agreement with the San Diego Convention Center has been expanded another three years, keeping the geeky convention in the California city through at least 2024.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports that the San Diego Comic Con convention contract has been renewed through 2024, expanding the existing agreement between Comic-Con International and the San Diego Convention Center.
The current agreement was not due to expire until 2021, but Comic-Con International has reportedly expanded the deal with the San Diego Convention Center Corp. by another three years. The agreement has included a significant discount for renting the center (which the Tribune reports in 2023 will be $177,027 — a $370,673 discount), though it has been cause for some concern by organizers, who say that the space is too small to accommodate all the attendees and exhibitors participating in the sold-out event.
Spaces are often booked years in advance, while nearby hotels — which have signed numerous agreements with Comic-Con to cap increases on room rates — offer more than 14,000 rooms to attendees. Comic-Con has been contracting with about 60 properties to agree to no more than a 2% annual increase for each of the three years, though the Tribune reports that not all hotels in the convention block have signed on with these expanded dates.
According to David Glanzer, spokesman for Comic-Con International, those discounts have been essential to the rising costs of putting on Comic-Con every year. The convention has impacted the city's local economy as well, an issue that will play a pivotal part in whether the con's long-term future in San Diego. A public vote next year will determine financing on an expanded convention center via an increase in San Diego's hotel tax. Whether that tax increase is approved will essentially decide whether San Diego Comic-Con can still take place in San Diego.