That looming sense of anxiety and worry you’ve had since San Diego 2009 ended a mere two months ago?

Totally justified.

Thanks to Horace Austin for the link.

33 COMMENTS

  1. Um… from what I see, only the four-day memberships WITH Preview Night have sold out. The regular four-day memberships are still available, as well as the single day passes.

    Still, that is an interesting omen. Book the hotel now. Get a group of friends together and rent a dorm room at the AYH hostel in Gaslamp. Rent a tour bus and sell the sides to advertisers. Plan a signing tour across the U.S., with SC as the midpoint.

    Hey… do the 4+ memberships get first choice on hotel reservations?

  2. Wow. It was a real moment of fiscal twist, to decide whether to keep our booth @ CCI for another year. (Economy sucking, etc.) I am reassured by the above.

  3. Some hotels may not schedule reservations until after the first of the year. At least that’s they way it was a few years ago when I tried.

    It doesn’t look like Pro Registration is set up yet. Can we assume that it automatically includes Preview Night?

  4. I think Preview Night might be the night to skip, the way Saturday used to be.

    It appeared to be the most crowded the Hall was during the show, possibly because there were no panels going to to siphon off part of the crowd.

  5. > Um… from what I see, only the four-day memberships WITH Preview Night have sold out. The regular four-day memberships are still available, as well as the single day passes.

    Since Comic Con starting having Preview Night, this is the first time they’ve sold 4-day memberships that didn’t include it. The single day memberships for 2010 are not on sale yet (I don’t know when they will be)….

  6. Jeebus. MOVE PREVIEW NIGHT TO VEGAS!111! ;)

    But is there anybody surprised why the “with Preview Night” option would sell out ahead of the “without” one? With the prices the same, why WOULDN’T you get it—- it’s a bonus 5th day of Con goodness for those hardcore enough to do all 4 days anyways.

    And with this instituted new cap in place, I’m guessing the assumption is that there’d be fewer people on the Exhibit Floor on Preview Night 2010? Maybe not to the extent as looking how it was when Wed first got added to the SDCC schedule, but even without the attendee-siphoning events of panels and presentations at Hall H/Ballroom 20, it could be least crowded of all Con days…

  7. Questions for anyone in the know: How many 4-day with PN memberships were sold, how many 4-day without PN memberships will be sold when all is said and done, and how does the total compare with the number of 4-day memberships sold for 2009? If you are not allowed to give actual numbers, can you give percentages?

  8. WOW! That’s incredible.

    I’m relieved we’ll be there as vendors… but bummed for anyone who wakes up in June and thinks they’re going to get tickets.

    How are they going to grow to meet this kind of demand?

  9. Lots of questions here…

    1. Is CCI limiting the number of people that can attend Preview Night?

    2. Can we expect the fire-sale of passes we saw in May/June/July by CCI for 2010? It was possible to attend even though the show had sold out in May because there were a lot of returns.

    3. Is there a block-buying entity out there?

    4. Maybe $100 (a near 50% increase over last year’s price) is too small a price for CCI? Will it be $200 for 2011?

    5. Elevated prices means a different kind of attendee. Will this new attendee be willing to endure the depredations CCI now entails?

    6. The new wing of the Convention Center is going to be called the CCI wing, right? Attendees are effectively going to be paying for it.

  10. I didn’t even have time to contemplate whether or not I could go next year to the con.

    Although by the time I could possibly get the money together the 4 day passes minus Preview night will already be gone.

    Good lord. It now seems more worth it to just scour the nets for news and ask your friends who are going to pick up stuff for you.

  11. I suspect 4-day tickets for 2010 went on sale during the 2009 show. (Heh… I suspect we will see a line on Sunday morning next year for people buying the PN passes. “Pre pre pay?”

    If Preview Night (sponsored by eBay) has less attendance than 2009, will this affect Con exclusives? (Probably not.)

    “Is CCI limiting the number of people that can attend Preview Night?”
    Yes. The Con (under the direction of the Fire Marshall) has always limited the number of people who can attend preview night. Has that number ever been reached? I’d say yes, since the four-day passes which included Wednesday have sold out in the past.

    As for attending the Con, I don’t. I take the money I saved on airfare, hotel, and membership, and spend it on eBay, where everything ends up.

    Were I an astute marketeer, I would plan a big velvet rope shindig that night, for all the movers and shakers who do not attend Preview Night, as well as a tent event nearby (Petco Parking?) for the general public. If I really wanted to go gonzo, I’d schedule a massive fan panel (like Twilight) first thing Thursday Morning, and run the tent event all night long for those waiting in line. If I was certifiably crazy, I do that for every single day of the Con, grabbing the first panel in Hall H. Use the tent as an auxiliary booth (with exclusives), showing videos of panels and trailers. The first panel hits the web first, spreading buzz throughout the Con. Grab some tourmobiles, plaster them with ads and video monitors, and ferry fans back and forth. Sublet space by the tent to food vendors, with prices cheaper than the convention center.

  12. I believe last year was the first year they scheduled a panel (WB new TV Series Previews?) on Preview night to help keep the floor traffic flowing. There were also a few off-site events (one a SDCC Tweet-Up in the gaslamp and the other a party out closer to the airport) that were kicking off while Preview Night was underway. And after the success of the eBay auctions last year, I would assume CCI held back a few 4 Day + passes to put up in June and July.

    Get ready for SDCC40 Part 2: The Revenge.

  13. Heidi,

    CCI is acting and looking more like a for-profit show — use your imagination — than the non-profit entity it pretends to be.

    How can a consumer show that’s grown this big be perceived or function as anything less than a for-profit show that serves its multinational corporate masters — WB/DC, Marvel/Disney, NBC/Universal, et.al?

    Now, organizers are creating artificial hype by offering ticket packages that exclude Preview Night. Does this sound like an action of profit-making entity or a non-profit?

    What do you think about this?

    Thanks,

    Wayne

  14. How about making Tuesday the new Preview Night? There’s absolutely nothing “preview” about it…everything’s up and fully operational.

    Or how about extending the Con to an entire week? The demand certainly seems to be there to expand it by a day or two (or three)…and creative ways they could dissipate the projected crowd out over those days.

  15. The show used to run for nearly a week, if you were a retailer or professional. I’m trying to remember when they ended the retailer expo, though. Maybe mid 90s? I remember going to the show once with a retailer friend of mine at least a day before the show itself opened and having all the room in the world to walk around and look at the publisher’s booths without having to use my elbows.

  16. “I’m trying to remember when they ended the retailer expo, though. Maybe mid 90s?”

    I think they still had the retailer expo in 2000, but I’m not sure for how much longer after that.

  17. Wow, that’s just remarkable. It definitely reinforces Comic-Con’s place as a larger pop culture event. It’d be great if we could get folks to buy up new comics with this kind of fervor.

    Filip Sablik
    Publisher, Top Cow Productions
    Read all of The Darkness/Pitt #1 FREE at http://www.comiXology.com

  18. The retailer expo was still around at least in the late 90s, since I remember going to it and Pro/Con (remember that?) the same year. maybe 98 or 97? I used to remember which years i went by what was on the tote bag.

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