SDCC’s traditional con talk back panel on the Sunday of the show is a place for fans to vent, and this year they went all out, with long, detailed, agonized tales of not getting into Hall H for the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/every-marvel-studios-film-and-disney-series-announced-through-2028/” title=”Every Marvel Studios Film and Disney+ Series Announced Through 2028″>Marvel Studios panel or other highly sought after events.
But as reported by Rob Salkowitz at Forbes – and confirmed by The Beat from an audio recording of the panel – SDCC’s Chief Communications and Strategy Officer David Glanzer dropped an even bigger bombshell: SDCC might reconsider whether the space given over to Hall H should be used for programming at all.
The shocking statement came in a discussion of whether SDCC could adopt some of the crowd and line control techniques used at New York Comic-Con*. Glanzer mentioned that the con had outgrown the convention center back in 2010, and since then had been trying to find space outside the convention center for programming and other events. “We turn Hall H, and you all know this, into a theater because the biggest room in this facility is 4,200 seats. We decided we would forego the revenue from Hall H to create a bigger theater. Now that was done some years back, and maybe we need to explore getting rid of Hall H and going back to revenue generating because right now we can only allow X amount of people within the building. We can only allow X amount of exhibitors in the building.”
The idea of turning Hall H back into exhibit space comes after Hall H experienced perhaps its most troubled year, as a feverish desire to get into the Marvel Studio panel led to fans not only sleeping out, but many not getting in even with wristbands, and major media figures, and even talent on other panels – not being allowed in due to the fire marshal capping attendance. Rumors have been flying ever since.
The con has long lamented the fact that their revenue is capped by the size of the San Diego Convention Center, with only 135,000 people allowed to attend each year. In order to increase revenue and keep up with rising costs, the con has, of course, raised prices, but also looked to sponsorships such as building wraps and activations to increase revenue.
According to Glanzer, a smaller footprint for such things was not just your imagination in 2026. “I think this year you will also see that as many as much signage as we normally have, we have fewer this year.”
With so many things held in check by sheer logistics of scale, SDCC is still looking for ways to add amenities. For instance, getting good wifi is another problem. And here again, sponsorships are hard to come by. “I think it’s a great selling point to say to somebody, you can get your name in front of not just 130-150-000 people, but 2,000 members of the media from all over the world, and still we can’t get a sponsor for our Wi-Fi,” he said at the panel. “We can’t get sponsorships for some of the building reps we have here. It’s a challenging situation. We now see that we don’t have enough meeting space in this building. So the hotels adjacent to this, the Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, have been very generous in giving us rooms there, we still don’t have enough space, and now we’re seeing issues with Hall H. We’re going to look at see what we can do, but it is a situation that takes money, time, and effort.”
While Glanzer assured everyone that the con staff is working on these problems, the idea of getting rid of Hall H might be the most terrifying solution of all. While a very few fans might say “Good riddance!” to the end of Hall H, most would be devastated as it is the signature event of Comic-Con, the stuff of legends and for a few studios, still a canvas on which to fire fan imaginations.
Would studios lament its loss though? Although Marvel has it’s spectacular Hall H extravaganza every two years or so, they will have another splashy event just next month at the D23 Expo and of course, studios have been pulling out of Hall H over the years because of costs. EvenJames Gunn thinks that a few instagram posts are the equal of an expensive Hall H panel.
Any new exhibit space at SDCC would quickly be snapped up; the current waitlist for booths is a couple of years long.
