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Cosplayers dressed as DC’s Batgirl pose for a photo op at a Fan Expo convention.

Courtesy Fan Expo HQ As every comics fan knows, team-ups rule, and one of the big players in the fan convention space is taking that to heart with a major announcement set to shake up the billion dollar industry. Fan Expo HQ, a division of global events giant Informa, today announced it is adding the six most popular, best-attended comic and fan conventions from Wizard World (OTC:WIZD) to its portfolio of shows. According to the announcement, Wizard World’s events in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Portland (OR), St. Louis and Cleveland will be rebranded Fan Expo events in 2022.

Combined with Fan Expo’s existing lineup of FanExpos across Canada and the US, Orlando’s MegaCon, the recently-acquired Denver Pop Culture Con, and the newly-announced San Francisco convention, that gives the Toronto-based company 17 events total, a stranglehold on the North American market, and likely the largest fan convention aggregate audience in the world.

“We’re beyond thrilled to be able to offer that to fans in six new locations, and pleased that Wizard World recognized our ability to elevate guest experience to the next level. We’re looking forward to getting to know each of these individual communities, learn what they’re looking for, and raise the bar!” said Fan Expo HQ President, Aman Gupta. “Personally, I’m eager to contribute to the incredible legacy of the Chicago event, the second oldest comic event in North America (1972), and restore it to its former glory and beyond.”

Fan Expo HQ Vice President Andrew Moyes

Fan Expo HQ MORE FOR YOUFenty’s Fortune: Rihanna Is Now Officially A BillionaireBox Office: ‘Suicide Squad 2’ Gets Tomb Raider-Trapped With Poor $12.2M Friday2021 Is The Biggest Year By Far For Monsta X On Billboard’s World Songs Chart While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Fan Expo HQ Vice President Andrew Moyes said that the agreement with Wizard World came about relatively quickly over the last several months, and additional Wizard World shows could eventually transition into the Fan Expo brand once the company has successfully integrated the first six largest shows.

Wizard World, which has been a familiar brand in fandom since the 1990s, was one of the first events companies to specialize in comic and entertainment conventions, achieving economies of scale by running templated events in markets around the country. Wizard World was acquired from its original owners in the early 2010s and sought to built its footprint by expanding into secondary and tertiary markets, but did not gain much traction. Wizard World will continue to operate the Wizard World Vault and will be participating at all Fan Expo events, according to the annoucment.

2020 was, needless to say, a challenging year for the entire fan events industry. ReedPOP, which had spent the decade building its core PAX and New York Comic Con events into a global enterprise with events in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America, retrenched dramatically, shedding staff and selling off international shows. Comic-Con International, the organization that runs San Diego Comic-Con and Wonder Con, has not run a live event in two years. But Fan Expo HQ, with the backing of deep-pocketed parent company Informa, has seen the downturn as an opportunity to expand its reach and deepen its talent pool. This is just the latest in a several power moves by the company to expand its footprint in expectation that crowds will come roaring back to live events as soon as it is safe to do so.

According to Moyes, Fan Expo will transition many key Wizard World staff into its organization to maintain continuity in the events it is taking over. The company also hopes to keep the legacy Wizard World events at their familiar venues and dates once the brand transition takes place in 2022. In the meantime, Wizard World Chicago 2021, set to run October 15-17 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, will continue as originally planned, as the last Wizard World Chicago event.

Plans for Fan Expo Chicago 2022, the first Fan Expo HQ-branded event, will be announced later this year, and fans can expect a new, reinvigorated brand and revitalized attendee experience. Moyes said partners and fans should expect to hear from Fan Expo with more details about what the new partnership will mean for them moving forward.

Cosplayers can’t wait to get back to in-person events, fueling a consolidation boom in the fan … [+] convention industry.

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