Looks like San Diego city councilman Carl DeMaio is backing an expansion of the convention center to ensure that Comic-Con stays in San Diego. The anchor, who I can’t pick out of the Channel 6 line-up, mentions both Anaheim and Vegas as places that would like to entice the convention away.

Anaheim boasts 815,000 square feet for exhibits compared to San Diego’s 526,000. Two days into the con, probably the number one improvement they could make is to increase the space available around the booths for walking. The con fills San Diego’s convention center to the utmost, and it’s the exhibit hall where that is most obvious. Walking in the exhibit hall is like driving in an LA rush hour.

Anaheim also has an arena capable of holding 9,100 people, compared to Hall H’s 6,700-person capacity; Hall H is perpetually filled.¹

One thing I can’t find is the number of people who would be allowed to attend if the con were at Anaheim.

Las Vegas Convention Center is even bigger, but it’s in Vegas. I expect the SDCC board would like to keep the con in a mild-climate beach city near where they live. Anaheim’s convention center isn’t on the ocean like San Diego’s but it does get the climate and is a short drive.

Th con is currently tied to San Diego only through 2015. After that it’s up for grabs again. If San Diego improves its convention center the con will almost certainly stay. Other than the space issue, our convention center is better situated both in being on the bay and in being right downtown near some of our best restaurants—in easy walking distance. Our climate is the best in the country, at least in recent years, providing mild temperatures even in July.²

Here’s hoping DeMaio gets the chance to work out a good compromise for expansion.