Her Cape Guide to SDCC #90: SDCC to stay in San Diego through 2021

Her Cape 100 Things to Know About SDCC continues with #90: San Diego Comic Con will be staying in San Diego through at least 2021.

For SDCC fans, and those who want to attend in the future, San Diego Comic Con will be staying in San Diego through at least 2021 after an agreement with the city following a year of negotiations.

The past few years has been a game of “will they, won’t they” when it comes to whether or not SDCC would be leaving San Diego. While the pop culture juggernaut was born in San Diego over four decades ago, the event has been outgrowing its home at the San Diego Convention Center. The event has spilled out into the neighboring Gaslamp Quarter with offsite events and panels in nearby hotels and attendance topping 135,000 in 2016.

There was a period of time where Comic Con International, the people who bring SDCC to life, were shopping the convention around the country, looking for another convention space that could accommodate more people. Los Angeles, Anaheim and Las Vegas were all frontrunners in those searches, but time and again SDCC returned to San Diego.

One factor in San Diego Comic Con remaining in San Diego for three more years, in addition to the deal struck with Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the San Diego Tourism Authority and the San Diego Convention Center, is that conventions are much more common than ever before. These days you have New York Comic Con growing bigger and bigger. Los Angeles officially adopted Stan Lee’s Comickaze as its official comic convention, renaming it Los Angeles Comic Con. Even SDCC’s little sister Wonder Con, which is also run by CCI, is filling up the Anaheim Convention Center.

Though the San Diego Convention Center is trapped in the void of San Diego politics, hoping for a vote allowing the center to expand, CCI is moving forward and staying in San Diego for three more years despite the cramped quarters. As a San Diegan, it’s the right move. Few places can have so much going on outside their convention centers the way San Diego can, which makes SDCC all the more special.

SDCC takes place July 20-23 and Her Cape will be live at the event bringing you full coverage.