GenCon has been hosted the same weekend as the Leigonier’s National Convention where an entire hotel (Sheridan) was taken up and un-available for use. The same weekend the IUPUI hotel was hosting a nusrsing convention. And there were two other small conventions that were downtown in nearby hotels.

To kick that up a notch, Indy Colts had a game that weekend with a packed stadium.

Indy didn’t have problems with hotel space, and only had a bit of trouble with parking durring the Cotls game. So, yeah. Indy can handle it. And btw: Indiana’s State Fair has overlapped Gen Con at least once w/o much issue. Just so you know.

So, spouces are more likely to participate in Gen Con spouce-related events. Childeren are more likely to be at the Gen Con kid’s room, or special trips or what not that’s planned. We do have a nice zoo and one of the largest childeren’s museums in the country. But, no theme park to pull participants away from Gen Con.

GenCon SoCal had Disney land near by that took away some of the gamer money.

Where’s Kentucky Kingdom again? Isn’t it near Lousiville? Maybe a reason why it’s not been hosted there. Just a thought.

Hotels. Plain and simple.

Indianapolis has TONS of hotels, and they are low cost.

The problem with Cellebration IV was the fact that there was not enough low-cost hotels in the area to accomodate the number of multi-day passes that would’ve paid for the convention center.

Indy’s convention center is in the middle of a major expansion that should be done and ready to use in two years – just in time for contract renewal.

Louisville, St. Louis, and other cities that have been reviewed by Gen Con does not have the type of hotel space within walking distance (or 20 min drive) from the convention center. If there is overflow to hotels outside the emediate area, they are 30+ min away. Indianapolis has a ton of hotels within 20 min of the convention center, and pleanty of parking w/in a mile. And the hotel space that is available is ON THE CHEAP.

Okay, I’m from Indy and tooting my city’s horn. But with NASCAR and Indy Racing League events, Indy’s got the experience of getting a large number of people the hotel space they need and quick travvel to boot.

Yes, I’m sure Indy folks help with GenCon, but please don’t insult GenCons roots – Wisconsin, where D&D started from (that means you, EjoThims).

GenCon LLC went into the red because they tried to create other conventions that did not work out. GenCon SoCal, Star Wars Celebration, etc. (Europe and Australia are franchises, I believe, mostly independently operated if I remember correctly.) GenCon Indy is the flagship convention and makes the money. The other attempts failed and they lost money on it all, while Indy still makes the money (thus, their plan to be out of bankruptsy by February.)

So to say that Peter’s “greed” brought them into the red is only partly correct. They tried to do more than was profitable and paid for it.

As for a revolving convention, I don’t think that would be good for the convention at all. Part of what makes a convention successful is familiarity and returning business. If a convention would be successful in Houston (for instance), why not set up a yearly con in Houston? Local businesses won’t support a con they don’t know about, and trying to get a one-year rental of a location is probably much more costly (and made years in advance) as the center has to schedule around it for yearly events.

So, I think GenCon Indy is going to stay in Indy, and will remain with Peter for the time being. But who knows… stranger things have happened. (What do you mean you lost the Star Wars license because you decided to take money from your gaming company and put it into your shoe company??)