Reed Confirms Long-Rumored Chicago Show; Moves NYCC To Fall Permanently



Here's the Reed Exhibitons press release:

reedshowinchicago.doc

So basically, what that is is confirmation of what's been heavily, heavily rumored for a long time -- maybe a year? -- in various industry circles. Conventions giant Reed Exhibitions be doing a show in Chicago starting in 2010 that's modeled on the New York Comic-Con. With a new permanent Fall slot of NYCC, the Chicago show will be in the Spring rather than in the Fall. It's to be called the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo and the first one will be April 16-18 next year.

There's a few things to watch.

* First, is how Wizard Entertainment reacts, short- and long-term. Wizard has over the last couple of years laid off a number of staffpeople and made other changes that hint at money issues even before the economy started to deteriorate in Fall 2008. Their summer convention Wizard World Chicago is by far their flagship enterprise in that field, so even if they're able to stick it out there will be a ton of pressure on them to have a good show in 2009.

* Second, it should be interesting to see if people exhibit at one over the other -- the supposed desire for certain publishers to have a show instead of the Wizard show is what drove the rumors initially.

* Third, Reed is planning to have it downtown in the McCormick Place. That brings with it some issues all by itself. As I recall, that facility has a number of options in terms of what size of show they'll be able to have. I also have to imagine it's more expensive to show than than in a convention center out by the airport, if not in direct costs than maybe in terms of getting people and housing them and moving materials in and out of town and into the hall -- again, that's a guess on my part. There's also the issue over whether or not enough people will come to downtown Chicago to make up for potential losses elsewhere. I know that sounds insane, but one advantage to Wizard's airport location is easier proximity for a lot of suburban audiences, and easy highway access from Indiana, downstate Illinois, and Wisconsin.
 
posted 9:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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