I am very disappointed that Comic-Con is staying in San Diego. Before I give you my reasons here is some background on me. I have owned a comic and game store for 24 years. Because I have a small sales volume store in a small town I run the store by myself with occasional help from family. I have gone to Comic-Con for the past 11 years. Unfortunately, thanks to Wizards of the Coast having a prerelease the same weekend I will not be going this year. But, that is a comment for another time. When I go to Comic Con I go as a fan and use it as my one vacation for the year. I do stop by the Diamond booth and go to retailer panels and functions. But, I am not there to wait in line to buy exclusives or look for items to take back and sell. I am there to have fun and enjoy myself.
The reasons I would like Comic-Con to move, preferably to Las Vegas, are as follows. First, they need a bigger venue. The San Diego Convention Center is just too crowded. Walking the convention floor you feel like you are part of a herd of cattle just slowly moving in the same direction and not being able to stop and look at something. If you do stop you have a security employee telling you to move along. Also, the crowds are the cause for waiting in line for hours to get into most of the panels. It is so crowded it takes the fun away. The size of the venue is a big concern for me however an even bigger concern is the cost of hotel rooms. The hotels in the San Diego area steal our money by charging 3 or more times the regular rate for a room. I and my friend that goes with me, who is also a retailer and in total agreement with me on Comic-Con moving, usually stay at a Motel 6 in Chula Vista. We stay for seven nights and with taxes pay just over $1,000 for those seven nights and other hotels are even worse. The Monday that we leave, the sign in front of the Motel 6 is advertising rooms for $59.99. This is totally unacceptable. I am willing to agree that hotels in Las Vegas would also raise their rates but I believe that with all the hotels available in Vegas that they would not steal our money like the hotels in San Diego.
Before closing this comment, I just want to say I have nothing against San Diego. In fact I think San Diego is a great place to vacation. There is plenty of things to do there and they have great weather. In fact, the way Comic-Con is now, I have more fun doing things away from Comic-Con than I do at the Con itself. Also, even though I don’t like big cities for places to live, San Diego is the one big city that I have visited that I would not mind living in. San Diego, in my opinion, is just not the right place for Comic-Con anymore.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.