Photo credit: Matthew Cunningham
My friend Dan Chmielewski, owner of a technology PR firm and proprietor of TheLiberalOC.com, has been skeptical that Anaheim could handle Comic-Con – which has been in San Diego for 40 years and which the Anaheim/OC Visitor and Convention Bureau is actively wooing.
After attending WonderCon (Comic-Con’s smaller sister show) in Anaheim this past weekend Dan has changed his mind:
The Anaheim Convention Center plays host to the WonderCon pop culture convention this weekend and as many as 140,000 people are expected to attend this more comic-book focused event compared with a more Hollywood driven San Diego ComicCon that attracts 150,000 people a day in July.
When WonderCon first came to Anaheim in 2012, as the Moscone Center in San Francisco was unavailable, only 40,000 attended. This weekend’s show has expanded into Halls B, C and D showing a dramatic increase in anticipated attendance. Show organizers sell tickets online only and well in advance, so it’s easy to see how this year’s expanded show provides a glimpse into what could be a coup if Anaheim’s bid for ComicCon is accepted. Anaheim made a formal pitch for the giant ComicCon show a couple of months ago, and oddly enough, the lawsuit joined by the gadfly group CATER preventing the expansion of the San Diego facility, might actually play a tiny role in bringing ComicCon to Anaheim. When you talk with business owners in the Gaslamp district and managers at nearby San Diego Hotels, most are aware of the lawsuit and many aren’t happy about it. An expanded San Diego Convention Center means a bigger ComicCon and more tickets sold which get snatched up over a few hours two days a year.
Photo credit: Matthew Cunningham
While there aren’t estimates on how much each WonderCon attendee spends coming to the convention, ComicCon attendees average between $600 and $1,400 a day on hotels, transportation, meals, and …stuff. But in 2012, 40,000 people and this weekend’s event expects more than three times that number. The economic impact of ComicCon on San Diego’s economy is estimated to be between $135 million to $178 million over a five day long weekend. There’s no real agreement on the final numbers, but even on the low end, pretty extraordinary for a weekend long event.
The new hotel construction and development in the Resort District and the Planned Expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center has made a believer of me. I think Anaheim could handle ComicCon; and while the city lacks the charm of San Diego’s Gaslamp District, there are plenty of places a short walk or bus ride away could handle, much like San Diego does. The challenge today is to see how Anaheim handles the long registration lines for people just getting their badge.
You can read the rest of Dan’s post here.
I attended WonderCon on Saturday. While I can’t make a first-hand comparison with Comic-Con – because I’ve never attended the latter — I’m encouraged by Dan’s change of opinion.
