Gen Con Expands!

relief from overcrowding for sure. I'm happy about it!

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Gen Con is betting bigger! The convention, which is the largest hobby game convention in North America, is expanding its events into the nearby Lucas Oil stadium in Indianapolis from 2016. Numerous large events will be moving to the stadium, including True Dungeon. Gen Con is approaching 200,000 turnstile attendance (that was 61,000 unique attendees) last year - it's growing quickly. The city's downtown hotel capacity, sadly, is not. 2016 Gen Con is from August 4th-7th.
Gen Con is excited to announce that it has reached an agreement to expand its events space into Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium for next year's convention. As part of this expansion, Gen Con will move several large events into the stadium’s exhibition space, including the wildly popular True Dungeon events.

“Expansion into Lucas Oil Stadium is another exciting step forward for Gen Con,” said Adrian Swartout, Gen Con CEO/Owner. “Gen Con has grown to host nearly 200,000 turnstile attendees, and it is evident that we have to accelerate our growth plans to meet attendee, exhibitor, and event organizer demand. Expansion into Lucas Oil Stadium allows Gen Con to keep offering more gaming, exhibition, and entertainment options each year.”

A large-scale, life-size gaming experience, True Dungeon creates an immersive environment where players can solve puzzles and battle giant monsters. Attendees will have easy access to True Dungeon events through a corridor that directly connects the Indiana Convention Center to Lucas Oil Stadium. True Dungeon’s 2016 event will feature an expedition through lava caverns and a mission across an underground city. Attendees can learn more here.

“We are very excited to offer an improved coaching and adventure experience with our new location,” said Jeff Martin, creator of True Dungeon.

Gen Con will announce additional events hosted in Lucas Oil Stadium in the coming months. Last year, Gen Con had record numbers of events (14,000+), exhibitors (400+), and unique attendees (61,000+).

Lucas Oil Stadium is a state-of-the-art retractable roof, multi-purpose facility seating over 67,000 fans while featuring spectacular views of the downtown Indianapolis skyline. Opened in 2008 as the home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, this facility already boasts an impressive resume having been named the 2009 Sports Facility of the Year by Street and Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. Lucas Oil Stadium was the site of Super Bowl XLVI, the 2011-2015 Big Ten Football Championship Games and the NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball Championship again in 2015 after first hosting this event in 2010.

 

[darjr]

How far apart are they? Does Indy have a bike share program?

 

[Morrus]

It's not a transportation issue. It's right next door.

 

[darjr]

I thought so. The convention center even share a wall don't they? Couldn't a person almost watch a game right from the convention center?

 

[Morrus]

I thought so. The convention center even share a wall don't they? Couldn't a person almost watch a game right from the convention center?

Dunno, but I've seen one from the window of my hotel room, joined to the convention centre by a skywalk.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

It's positive, but I'm more concerned about hotel space than event space.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

That's my fault. I had it in my head the two were separated by several blocks.


Looking at a map, I see that the convention center sits in between the Stadium and the hotels along Maryland Street. Still a bit of a hike, but not as bad as I thought.

So, does anyone know if the stadium's exhibition space is adjacent to the convention center? Or must one work his or her way through the stadium to get to the space?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Map for it...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, I could see the Lucas Oil Stadium from my hotel room the last time I went to Gen Con. It might add a little bit of a brisker walk between events in the two buildings, but it shouldn't be too bad.

It'd be nice if the hotel/event registration system architectures could get upgraded so that it didn’t slow to a crawl, though. I mean, sure, getting hit by that amount of people is a serious stress test, but it's not like it's unexpected.