It’s more than 40 years since San Diego Comic Con ran its first event, and it’s since grown into one of the most important dates on the Entertainment calendar. It’s thought that every year, close to 1 million pop culture fans compete for the 50,000-60,000 tickets that are available to the public. By the time return visitors, press and professionals are taken into account, the actual attendance is well over 100,000 and may even be closer to 150,000. In short, getting a ticket to the ultimate nerd event can feel a bit like winning the lottery. Soon, though, you won’t need to deal with the crowds and ticket lottery to get the SDCC experience.
The San Diego Union Tribune is reporting that Comic Con International (CCI), the non-profit group behind San Diego Comic Con and WonderCon, has agreed a deal to create a permanent museum at the city’s Balboa Park site.
The Comic-Con Center for Popular Culture will take over a spot that’s currently occupied by the sports museum, The Hall of Champions – anybody else liking the Revenge of the Nerds narrative there? The new museum will feature a constantly rotating set of exhibits that will presumably span the many interest groups featured at the annual event, such as comics, gaming, movies, and TV.
“(The museum) will not be a collection institution,” the lease agreement says. “Exhibits will pull from collectors, museums, galleries and other sources, and will refresh on a regular basis to provide a dynamic visitor experience.”
The news should also help to quiet the rumors surrounding where the event will be calling home in the coming years. CCI’s contract with the San Diego Convention Center expires at the end of this year, and anybody who has been to, or close to the event will be able to tell you the venue hasn’t been able to grow quickly enough to accommodate Comic Con’s meteoric rise in popularity. Other SoCal cities including Los Angeles and Anaheim had been keen to snap up the event, which brings millions of dollars to San Diego’s economy each year. But, this latest development looks to be a signal that CCI will be staying put.
(Top Image: Cosplayers at CCI’s 2016 WonderCon Event – Kieran Dickson)
