GEN CON being sold?

[Drkfathr1]

I fly to the convention. So the cost will be pretty much the same to me, travel wise, no matter where it is. Unless they move it close to AZ, which I don't see happening.

You gotta admit Las Vegas is a temptation.

Yes it is! A very big temptation!

But like Umbran said, the problem with any site that has a lot of extra tourist attractions is why go for Gencon if I'm going to spend my time doing other stuff? Sure you need something to do in the evenings, after hours, but when it comes to Gencon, that's prime gaming time for most of the attendees!

 

[JoelF]

This is a good point, even though it's not as obscenely expensive as some believe (cheap eating if you're up for it, cheap efficient transportation).

However, you also have to consider that when visiting a place like New York, it's not a one-stop trip. You can also visit the ten billion other things there are to do there. There are tons of cities like this.

I'm just hugely biased because we don't get any big conventions for any kind of subcultural anything coming our way (and if we do, they just arrived and aren't that great yet). They always end up in the Midwest, or in LA (which I don't understand how that's a more convenient place to be). The tri-state area is the worst for conventions. Even when I was a miniatures-wargamer for Games Workshop products, they make a tour with their Games Day convention that makes 3-4 stops each year, and I don't think they've ever come closer than perhaps Baltimore or Chicago.

Sorry, I'm just venting. It'll probably be another schlep across the country for next years Gen Con.

I'm in the convention industry, and NY is by far the most expensive city to exhibit at. If Gen Con moved there, many of the exhibitors couldn't afford it, much less the attendees.

While Chicago would be great for me, and still maintain the location in the midwest, it also is much more expensive to have a convention in Chicago than in a smaller city like Milwaukee, Indy, etc.

The reason many conventions still wind up in NY, Chicago, or LA is that they are attended by business people, and the costs are paid by their corporate budgets, not the attendees themselves.

Also, the comments earlier about Reed Exhibits being one of the largest in the industry aren't true. The top 2 convention general contractors are Freeman and GES, with Reed being in the next three, along with Champion and George P (who has been the general contractor for Gen Con since being in Indy.)

 

[Eridanis]

Also, the comments earlier about Reed Exhibits being one of the largest in the industry aren't true. The top 2 convention general contractors are Freeman and GES, with Reed being in the next three, along with Champion and George P (who has been the general contractor for Gen Con since being in Indy.)

Just going through these possibilities:

Reed Exhibitions' US offices are in NYC; Norwalk CT (NYC suburb); Dublin, CA (San Francisco suburb); and Key Biscayne, FL. (Remember that Reed does the New York ComicCon, which has grown very, very quickly in its first two years.)

Freeman has many branch offices in the US, but none in KY.

GES also has many US branch offices, and none in KY.

Champion has no KY locations (and seem to be a logistics group more than an exhibition organizer?).

Same for George P Johnson.

So I wonder if this really is a group of interested investors, not from the exhibition industry, who want to make a go of it. Make a lot of sense, really. We'll know for sure by next week, at any rate, since Dec 5 is the last date to back out of the agreement.

 

[DonTadow]

Gotta keep it in the midwest somewhere to control the costs and make it available to the majority of people.

I mean, the whole reason Gencon is in this condition is because they moved the SW Celebration to LA from Indy, and that turned out to be a bust.

Did they really do that, oh that's just absolutely stupid. It was still stupid for Pete to do it there, but to do it in LA where he failed with Gencon Socal. Wow, just Wow. Talk about the executive you want to hire if you need a company to be tanked.

What do they say. The definition of insanity is doing the same insane thing over and over.

 

[Bearcat]

The only Kentuckian besides Elmore I know of; would be Tom Meier.

 

[Lhorgrim]

The only Kentuckian besides Elmore I know of; would be Tom Meier.

Wasn't Roger Moore, former editor of Dragon magazine, from Ky? I can't remember, but I thought I read a profile in an old Dragon that said he lived here.

 

[PaulofCthulhu]

That assumes that I don't already have it.

The head sitting in the middle of our gaming table might suggest otherwise.

But most of the time we call it 'Phillips', or if it's in the hamper crate: 'Gwyneth'...

<returning to topic>

No one I know knows anything about the potential Gen Cen purchasers.

 

[darjr]

It isn't GAMA.

ICv2 - GAMA Not Behind Gen Con Bid

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Did they really do that, oh that's just absolutely stupid. It was still stupid for Pete to do it there, but to do it in LA where he failed with Gencon Socal. Wow, just Wow. Talk about the executive you want to hire if you need a company to be tanked.

What do they say. The definition of insanity is doing the same insane thing over and over.

That was not Peter's call. Lucas is the one who demanded it be moved to LA.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

The only Kentuckian besides Elmore I know of; would be Tom Meier.

Kentucky may turn out to be a red herring as it's the lawyer in Kentucky and for all we know the client could be the Sultan of Brunei.