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I just read that Disney Expo is pushing to 2022. Has anyone heard any hints on what SDCC might be thinking about doing for 2021? Usually it's about that time for some type of announcement.
I haven’t heard anything. My worry is that they have a sold out show and realistically to have the event next year they probably need to reduce capacity. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My worry is that they have a sold out show and realistically to have the event next year they probably need to reduce capacity.
This is one of the reason I thought it didn't make sense for them to push off tickets. Too much is unknown. The likelihood is that the next SDCC will not be the same as the last SDCC. The cleanest thing to have done would have been to issue refunds and then held another sale when the time comes.
I good rule of thumb when running a business is not to sell products or services when you are unsure about how much it will cost to provide those goods. That's the situation CCI is in with regards to SDCC. Too much is unknown for them to know.
Fortunately CCI is not in a short of cash situation. They planned for something like this. They have the reserves to ride out a con that goes awry. Refunding would not have put them at risk. As reported, one reason they delayed officially canceling 2020 was financial. They needed the time to get out of contracts without penalty and for insurance. I don't think canceling this year used up those reserves that they have saved up. This year didn't count as the one con they could absorb. They might have to use those reserves to buffer out the next SDCC if the cost per person is higher than the price of the tickets that have already been sold.
There's nothing that says that SDCC has to have an attendance of 135,000. It hasn't always been 135,000. The world has changed. The organizations that adapt will survive, those that don't wont. I think the people waiting for a future SDCC to be the same as the last SDCC will be waiting for a very long time.
Another good rule of thumb when running a business is not to waste unnecessary money or resources. They didn't sell badges being unsure about how much it would cost. The situation changed after they sold badges, and they're stuck with the consequences (credit card fees, labor and organization already used for the sale) that can't be reversed with a mass refund. In fact, a mass refund would use up more labor. With credit card processors, fees are commonly 3-4% or higher. Certain fees are able to be refunded within a time period (often 120 days) but we were already past that when the lockdowns made big events an uncertainty. (But WonderCon sales would have still been within this time period.) 3-4% of a $300 badge is $10, multiply that by 100,000 attendees, and that's 1 million dollars they're out. If CCI figures out at a later point that it would cost too much per badge charged to run the next event, they can initiate refunds at that time and prepare to do another sale...but it's not a good idea to lock in the loss of resources before they're completely sure.