The other day here, we had an item that said Comic-Con International's current contract to convene in San Diego — which runs through next year's con — might be the last one for that city. That is, unless something changes about the sky-high costs of lodging at some local hotels. Today, we have the news that that contract has been extended an additional year…which I gather means the bartering and bickering about the con's long-term residence in S.D. may continue for a while.
I continue to think that wiser heads in San Diego will prevail and that a satisfactory multi-year contract will keep Comic-Con in its home for a long time…like forever. It would be foolish indeed to let that con go anywhere else.
(And I see people keep mentioning Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Las Vegas. There are about eighty reasons why that would be a disaster but I'll just allude to one. Anyone who thinks Vegas would be a great place for a convention in July oughta be forced to go there this week and cosplay in the streets in an Iron Man suit. Eighty reasons, by the way, is only two less than there are for not moving to the Los Angeles Convention Center.)
Meanwhile, another Con-related disaster has been averted…
The threat of a strike during Comic-Con was averted Friday when the union representing workers at the San Diego Convention Center secured a lucrative deal that will give them a pay raise of 55 percent or more over four years. Just two days ago, food and beverage workers at the convention center voted overwhelmingly to walk off their jobs in the event their wage and benefit demands could not be met.
I am very pro-labor so I'll end this post here. I'm trying to resist the temptation to remark about the quality of the food and beverages at the convention center. That isn't the fault of the folks who prepare and serve it.