Pro San Diego Facebook Page Rivals Anaheim’s Attempt To Host Comic-Con

Dan Koelsch,

Last week, the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau publicly threw their hat in the ring as the next venue for Comic-Con International. They even created a Facebook fan page to prove to the CCI group that people were looking for the change. However, a grassroots “Keep Comic Con in San Diego!” fan page has now cropped up to rival the Anaheim page. How is it doing? Find out after the break.

The “Bring Comic-Con International to Anaheim, CA” Facebook page has garnered just under 1,500 fans in the week or so since it’s inception. However, the Pro-San Diego page has more than 6,300 fans, over four times as many. Why the big difference? Well, for one, the San Diego group has been around since February 22, giving them a full month head start. There was already talk of Comic-Con moving from San Diego around that time, so it’s not surprising a page was created on Facebook. From what I’ve seen in the past day, though, a large chunk of the fans came after the Anaheim announcement.





Does it hurt the chances of Comic-Con moving to Anaheim in 2013 after its contract is up with San Diego? It’s hard to tell at this point, as the decision probably doesn’t have to be made for several months if not years. It certainly doesn’t help, and since Comic-Con is (supposedly) all about the fans, without support, it’s not worth the risky move.


What do you think? Should Comic-Con move to Anaheim?

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Comments (12)

  1. No, it should not move to Anaheim, but the reality is that the movie industry and games have driven up popularity to a feverish pitch. That means a large percentage of the attendees are fan boys of a single movie or “thing” (or just show up to see whats going on), not true lovers of the art and genera as a whole. That’s not a bad thing, it simply means there are a LOT of people attending and the event needs a larger venue. I hope, wish and pray that San Diego steps up in every way possible, this thing will only continue to grow. But, I don’t see them expanding the convention center any time soon which puts the event planners in a tight spot. No, attendance will not drop off enough to be of any concern if the whole thing is moved. And even if attendance does drop for the first 1-2 years after a move, it will be back up again very shortly thereafter. Most of the people attending Conic Con are from out of town, that is not going to change no matter where its located and the distance between Anaheim and San Diego is not large enough to significantly reduce the local population that attends. But I sure as hell do not want to drive or fly to the event if I don’t have to.

  2. I like the convention and have attended for the past eight years so I’ve seen how it has ballooned. I fumed at all the non-comic book fans that were crowding the halls. SD is an enjoyable destination, but come on now, why jack up the hotel prices? Booking them is just as much of a nightmare. And the crowds. OMG. Last year I stood out in the hot ass sun waiting for a panel for hours only to not be admitted. I was on the lawn OUTSIDE the convention center because there wasn’t enough room INSIDE the convention center. Bottom line is that the convention has hit a ceiling. They can’t increase their revenue through additional tickets because the convention has outgrown the center and they can’t increase exhibitors because, you guessed it, the convention has outgrown the convention center. If you love SD so much no one is stopping you from going, but if your main reason for going is to attend comic con – and that is becoming a miserable experience – then I don’t care how wonderful the destination, it’s going to be an overall suck fest. I don’t like the idea of being gouged on everything either. I don’t know if Anaheim is the answer but as the saying goes, (paraphrasing) insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
    And yeah the SD fan page has more than Anaheim. Anaheim’s has been up for one week. The SD fan page was created a month ago. They’re not really the same beast. The only commonality is facebook but you can’t really compare the two because they’re not the same. One is fan created and has mostly idiots posting random crap (SD) and the other is created by the visitor bureau (Anaheim) with posts sthat appear to pointing to what the center itself and the destination have to offer. It’s all business. To say that SD “deserves” the convention and that Anaheim has “enough” conventions is ridiculous. Let the best scenario for the comic con and the attendees be the one that wins out.

    Nuff Said.

  3. The SD page has been around longer, but like I said in the article, a lot of their fans have come AFTER Anaheim’s page went up. Also, the SD page is made by fans, whereas the Anaheim page was made by the official A/OC VCB, which has much more resources at their disposal. There was also a lot of press about the Anaheim page. I only found out about the SD page because a friend of mine joined. This is why I found the difference in number of fans surprising.

  4. @jf hit the nail on the head – that is the perfect summary of the situation and our efforts. Our page has a specific goal: to let the people of Anaheim and Orange County know that there is a chance for Comic-Con to come to our area and to provide accurate information about the Anaheim Convention Center and the surrounding hotels and services. A lot of people in SD know that there is a chance the Con will move, not a lot of people in Orange County know that we have put in a bid for the show and have a chance at getting it. If people want to support the move to Anaheim, we welcome them and if people want to disagree, we support that too. We just ask that they provide supporting arguments for their claims.

    @jf echoes a lot of what we are hearing (i.e. having to wait outside all day, just to be denied entry into a panel) and that is why we jumped on FB. To let people know that we have an outstanding convention center with more space (and more indoor space).

  5. OC Convention Center needs to reign in their union’s loading policy. As a vendor, I can’t support a bid by them until they allow you to use a small hand truck to carry in your own artwork without paying a union guy to move your stuff. I should be able to move a few boxes on my own without having it turn into a major battle with the Anahiem union. As a vendor, this is a pretty major issue. It has arisen a number of times for me at other Anaheim events, and makes Anaheim one of my least favorite venues of any I have ever exhibited at in terms of set up hassles.

  6. Disneyland hotel workers contacted the Comic-Con International Board to tell them about the labor dispute in Anaheim.
    You may have heard that Disneyland hotel workers have been engaged in a bitter 2-year fight against Disney over increased health insurance payments and turning some full-time jobs into part-time positions without benefits.
    There is no end in sight to this dispute. If Comic-Con chooses to move to Anaheim, it could find itself caught in the middle of a bitter labor dispute that could jeopardize its success.
    Workers have been involved in the following actions:
    *7 day and 3 day water-only hunger strikes in February 2010. Disney hotel workers camped on the sidewalks in front of the Disneyland hotels and Disney’s Burbank offices. Daily actions involved elected officials, community leaders, and musicians, including Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine.
    *Two work stoppages, in which dozens of workers walked off the job
    *Numerous picket lines and protests, happening as early as 6AM, some of which have shut down entrances to the park, closed streets, including one in which 32 people were arrested.
    http://www.disneyisunfaithful.org

  10. I’d love Comic-Con to come to my hometown, but it already gets pretty crazy during the summer with all the people going to Disneyland.

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