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San Diego Secures MLB All-Star Game in 2016, How It Affects San Diego Comic-Con

The biggest news coming out of San Diego today is that the city has been successful in securing the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, to be held at Petco ParkĀ on July 12, 2016.

This is huge news for the city, as The San Diego Tourism Authority estimates the game’s economic impact on the city could be as much as $80 million.

But this news might be making many Comic-Con attendees nervous. After all, July is typically the holding ground for San Diego Comic-Con, which draws 130,000 attendees, not to mention thousands of other individuals who flock to the city for off-sites and to fill additional, seasonal positions for the week. The All-Star game is expected to draw some 60,000 tourists – and the city simply wouldn’t have enough available space to accommodate both.

So what does that mean for Comic-Con? Not much, as it turns out. U-T San Diego interviewed Joe Terzi, chief executive of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, last month about the bid, which was still ongoing at the time. Terzi stated that the All-Star game would feature four days of related activities in the city, none of which were moveable, and that even though the event wouldn’t overlap with Comic-Con, they considered moving the convention, before deciding against such a move.

ā€œWe thought about it,” Terzi told U-T San Diego, “…but we didnā€™t feel it was appropriate to try to do that. Their attendees are such a unique group that they donā€™t take well to change. They plan their year around this event.ā€

Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer told U-T San Diego that the lack of an overlap was great news and that Comic-Con officials ā€œapplaud effortsā€ to bring the All-Star Game to San Diego.

ā€œNot only for the game, but as another wonderful opportunity to showcase Americaā€™s Finest City to the rest of the country and the world,ā€ Glanzer said.

There are multiple signs pointing towards San Diego Comic-Con’s 2016 dates as being July 20-24, 2016, which would set it a full week after the All-Star Game – including the San Diego Convention Center’s own website, which listed a “Private Event” on those dates with a 130,000 attendance, presumably San Diego Comic-Con. The attendance size has since been removed, but all other information has stayed:

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One convention that won’t be quite as lucky, though, is the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s annual conference, which was originally slated to hold its event downtown at the San Diego Convention Center on July 11-15, 2016. According to Terzi, they agreed that in the event that San Diego was chosen as the host city, they were willing to move their date. As far as we’re aware, no new date for the annual ERSI conference has been chosen yet.

Are you excited about San Diego hosting the MLB All-Star Game and that it won’t interfere with Comic-Con? Let us know in the comments.

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