Although there’s been a lot of anxiety among convention-goers for the past few years about the future of San Diego Comic-Con staying in its hometown (only some of which was eased by a late announcement that the convention was locked in for 2017-2018), some signature gatherers are currently claiming they have a way that might help – and Comic-Con International isn’t pleased.

The signature gatherers are claiming that signing their petition in favor of a proposed ballot initiative will help keep Comic-Con in San Diego, but CCI was unaware and is unaffiliated with the effort.

“We’ve received emails and phone calls regarding this issue asking if it was true that signing the
form would keep Comic-Con in San Diego,” said Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer. “We had no knowledge of this effort and as you might imagine, this came as a total surprise to us.”

Just like with the hold-up on the 2017-2018 contract extension, the biggest factors to keeping Comic-Con in San Diego have nothing to do with support from attendees – which is obviously already in place, when you look at how hard it is to score badges.

Instead, the biggest hurdles to keeping the convention in San Diego continue to be keeping hotel rates at a low price for attendees, and a contiguous, expanded convention center, which is currently on hold while the financial situation is figured out.

“We were born in San Diego and our hope is to remain here for a long time,” continued Glanzer. “However there are always challenges to face. Hotel room rates and meeting space are just some of them. Rarely is one issue the determining factor in our plans for the future.”