Comic Con: “We Would Hope to Stay” in San Diego

Talks are ongoing to keep San Diego’s largest convention – and one of the largest comic book conventions in the world –here through 2018, a Comic Con spokesman said Thursday.

“We are currently in negotiations and are grateful that all parties are still moving forward,” Comic-Con International marketing director David Glanzer said in a statement.

His statement came a day after The San Diego Union Tribune reported that San Diego Mayor Kevin Falconer has continued to meet with Comic-Con International’s board of directors to secure a new deal to keep the convention here through 2018.

The Union Tribune said officials would announce the extension by the end of this month.

Comic Con is under contract to remain here until next year, and the new deal would extend that contract two more years.

The convention has long been lured to relocate to Los Angeles and Anaheim – both are Southern California cities with larger convention centers.

NBC 7 reached out to the mayor’s office and the San Diego Tourism Authority, but both offices declined comment.

Glanzer said Comic Con organizers “hope” to stay in San Diego.

“We were born here, we've been here all these years and we would hope to stay here,” he said in the statement.

Hoteliers told the Union Tribune that they were asked by Comic Con to not raise their rates for 2017 and 2018 and to maintain the same number of discounted hotel rooms for the convention.

Comic-Con is a huge asset for San Diego drawing more than 130,000 attendees over the four-day fest and contributing more than $180 million to the city's economy, city officials have said.

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