National Locations Announced Through 2019

[t206hound]

Originally Posted by tbob

Centrally located? Kansas City and St. Louis are centrally located.

I know that 50% of the US population lives within 500 miles of Columbus OH. Perhaps they are referring to population with that statement.

[tiger8mush]

+1 for Baltimore

[EGreenwood]

How did Anaheim works itself out of the rotation?

[HaloFan]

Originally Posted by EGreenwood

How did Anaheim works itself out of the rotation?

There is an issue that the promoters and the Anaheim Convention Center disagree with. It's been said here before, but I cannot remember the reason.

That is the official word. The real reason I suspect is related to majority of the dealers are east of the Mississippi and they don't want to travel several days trucking their wares cross-country. Anaheim is far from the only major trading post in the West. The last National in Anaheim was in 2006 and attendance was poor.

The bigger problem is that the show circuit in our hobby has slumped a great deal since the strike years. It isn't about kids, young people or the internet because they all show up to Comi-Con. But our hobby's culture has become more introverted and internet based. I have friends that collect(even vintage stuff) and they are in their mid-30s, but won't attend conventions.

Like how MLB is doing the World Baseball Classic to influence global competition and expansion, I've seen shows like the Culver City one pop up trying to revive show activity on the West Coast. Like a lot of people on this forum, I definitely try to support these efforts when I can but I expect it will be awhile before the board decides it's worth coming out West again.

Craig H.

[conor912]

I'll go to a national when it's actually in a city and not 30 minutes away in some suburb or by an airport.

[perezfan]

Immensely disappointing. Either Anaheim or San Diego has to be put in the rotation.

San Diego has the following to offer...

Petco Park - 2 blocks away
Seaport Village - 2 blocks away
Gaslamp Quarter - 1 block away, with unlimited restaurants, bars, etc.
Tons of easily "walkable" hotels
A Gigantic Convention Center (which also supports ComicCon)

Nearby attractions for family members including...
San Diego Zoo
Wild Animal Park
Sea World
Mission Bay
The Beach
Belmont Amusement Park
LegoLand
Even Tijuana (if that's your thing)

Plus it's in the City, and less than 10 minutes from the Airport.

Plus you get the certainty of perfect weather. There cannot be a better location. The West always gets jobbed

[travrosty]

They need to spruce it up and give people new reasons to go.

comicon is as popular as ever. how come they can go to different cities?

my revised list of national convention locations

chicago
cleveland
chicago
cleveland
chicago
cleveland
chicago
cleveland
chicago
cleveland
chicago
cleveland
chicago
cleveland
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
no convention
...........

[Leon]

There is a board that makes the decision on where to have the National. That being said, the founder and promoter, Mike Berkus, is set to speak again at our Dinner this year at the National. He has gone over the reasoning for the locations before. It's not as easy as everyone thinks. The main things it has to do with are money (cost of venue), ingress and egress, contractual issues (can they reserve for years in the future) and sometimes it has to do with Unions. He has explained it a few times but that is what I remember. As I have said, for me personally, once I get on a plane I don't care where it is. I go to the show for the show, nothing else. It could be in a 350,000 sf tent in the desert (as long as there is ac) for all I care. I am going and am going to have fun. I go on family vacations for other things. I go to the show for the show. I am probably in the minority as usual.

[Jaybird]

Originally Posted by travrosty

They need to spruce it up and give people new reasons to go.

comicon is as popular as ever. how come they can go to different cities?


...........

Comicon is always in San Diego, but that being said I agree with everyone. The need to book it 5 years in advance is a little silly. I believe that is why Baltimore is out of the mix. One of the best sites for the National and should be in permanent rotation and I'm saying this as someone who lives on the West Coast.

Other cities would be great, or a permanent rotation that didn't include Cleveland. Bottom line is probably money. These guys are promoters and there is a dollar figure that they want to make in order to make it worthwhile to them. If there is a venue that doesn't make them the same amount of money, it gets axed from the list.

The local show that we put on, we do for fun. We are collectors first and foremost, not promoters. It's a different mindset.

[BruceWayne]

Originally Posted by travrosty

They need to spruce it up and give people new reasons to go.

comicon is as popular as ever.

Hey Travis,

Very funny about your proposed locations but I wanted to focus on this part of your quote. I agree and I have a theory in this regard. When I go to the National I can't help but notice there are very few young people/kids who attend. I am not saying there are NO kids, just that there are much less than one would expect at a National Convention of this nature.

I think one of the reasons for this is that the younger generation is growing up in a world completely different than ours. Their world is full of interaction (video games, etc) and the idea of looking at static images on pieces of cardboard is not very attractive to them. In fact, I gave my son, who is now 16, a number of 1960s and 1970s baseball cards of star players (Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, etc) when he was younger and he said "Thanks Dad, that's really nice." However, that night the cards went into his dresser drawer and I don't think he ever looked at them again. I simply don't think trading cards grab the imagination of the youth like it did in our day.

With that said, I think one thing that would truly increase the attendance at our conventions is to offer more interactive components for the youth. I still don't understand why we couldn't have companies like EA Sports and others there with interactive sports related games. I understand our industry is about nostalgia but I don't think we will truly reach our youth with this hobby unless we offer them more than what we are now. That's not to say things like "case breaks" are not appealing to some of the younger people who like to rip wax but I really think the interactive nature of the Comic Con is one of the reasons it is so popular and always draws huge numbers of people.

Just my thoughts.

[npa589]

Now, who would object to the convention being in Palm Beach? Brand new Convention center too!

At least then the Hawaiian shirts & jean shorts would fit the climate...

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by t206hound

I know that 50% of the US population lives within 500 miles of Columbus OH. Perhaps they are referring to population with that statement.

That would make sense. It's all about attendance and I would do the same if I were selecting a location for the National. 500 miles, you drive it. Anything further west and people are flying.