Comic-Con to Cap Hall H Line at Mere 250,000
San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) announced they would be severely limiting the number of attendees queuing up for its most in-demand panels due to growing safety concerns.
If you’ve been anywhere near Downtown during the late summer, let alone lucky enough to score an attendee pass, you know just how packed it gets during Comic-Con each year. But SDCC and its managing organization Comic-Con International (CCI) is introducing a new cap on its infamous Hall H line in order to relieve some of the pressure.
CCI representative Connie Khan announced the measure: “To help ensure safety for SDCC attendees and all of San Diego for the duration of our event, we are going to limit the Hall H line to a capacity of 250,000 beginning this year.”
Reaction was mixed. Some superfans, such as Craig Feldspar, 64, a local who has been in attendance steadily since the show moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1982, are critics of the move. “I don’t think [CCI] understands what the fans want. They’re going to be disappointing so many people by not allowing anyone past the quarter-million mark to wait in line for Hall H.” Craig explained: “It doesn’t even matter what panel is there. It could be Minions, it could be Scrunt, it could be Breaking Bad 2 for all I care. The thrill is getting in line a full week ahead of the convention and camping day in and day out for a chance to see it.”
Experts such as Holly Aitch question the numbers and whether or not the move is even necessary. “We’re at a time when travel to—and within—the US is quite limited.” She prints out a spreadsheet via dot matrix. Over the grind of the machine, she claims “attendance will be low this year, less than three million for the convention as a whole. And the number of them that go to Hall H are well below ten percent. I just don’t see them brushing up against that cap anyway.”
Khan reminded the public at the presser that this is just one facet of a multilayered approach to crowd control. “As with years past, you must scan your badge to enter and exit the [SDCC] Exclusion Zone.” The Exclusion Zone’s northern border is at Hawthorn St., stretches as far east as 25th St., and spans over 3 square miles.
