colts don't always play at home

Actually you need to find a 7 day period when the ICC is not in use. 
 

Not only that, but it will be a 7 day period in the middle of the school year, which will cause issues for volunteers, paid gencon employees and staff, and attendees alike. Summer is a prime time to send the kids off to the grandparents, to summer camp, to spend time with a friend etc while an adult goes to GenCon...or the kids go too because there's no school. If GenCon happens in the middle of the school year, there are a number of folks who won't work or attend because they don't want their kids to miss school. For me, I'd have to take at least 4 days off of work in the 1st or 2nd quarter of the school year. While I have a number of personal and sick days, taking 3-4 days off in a row in the middle of the school year is frowned upon unless you are very ill...Like I have to clear it with the school board.

Back when the convention first moved to Indy, there were several years where there was a Colts preseason game in the RCA Dome during GenCon weekend.  I went and saw my Bears play the colts one year for $10.  Good seats too!  I wouldn't worry about that.

Given the likely lowered attendance this year regardless (let's face it, there are going to be a lot of people still trying to figure out their financial situations come early August), I can't see them needing the field at Lucas Oil this year anyway.  

This year would be my 23rd GenCon. I went to my first in 1991 and since 1996, I've missed 3.  If it ends up cancelled, I'd be disappointed for sure.  This is my vacation every year.  I've already had Adepticon cancelled and the FFG World Championships pushed out indefinitely.  But I also recognize the scope of what we are dealing with here.  I'm not worried for myself.  Yeah, I'm diabetic, but I'm relatively healthy otherwise.  My wife, however, is asthmatic.  I don't feel, in good conscience, that I'm going to be able to attend regardless, unless there is easy-access, widespread testing and a vaccine available for this.  I can't risk it for my wife's sake.  

I would hope that GenCon is looking at things through this prism as well.  My hope is that they'd get some government assistance to keep the doors open until next year and just call it now, rather than wait until the last minute.  Either way, I'll see you all again in 2021.

I get that people are afraid as this certainly isn’t something that I thought I would ever see in my lifetime.  That being said if you are afraid stay home this year.  Nobody will fault you for doing so, especially if you have a compromised immune system.

I am fully planning on attending Gen Con this year as long as it is not cancelled.  All the reports I have read is that because of the stay at home orders most states are peaking in late April to early May which tells me by the end of July this will likely be done and over with.

sirnot, its only in the last 2-3 years that Lucas Oil has been needed.  So the first few years after Lucas Oil was opened it wasn't used, then it was only conference rooms, then, everything.

xanathon, I agree and hope it will happen, but as a cautionary point, look to Florida beaches and if the news is correct Georgia bowling alleys to see if the early openings cause any bounceback.

T

** BIG thumbs up **

G
 

When ever Gen Con happens I will be there.
it's international travel for me, but utterly worth it every time.

more time goes by the more I fear there be no event, hoping for some miracle to make something good happen in 2020.

Germany has canceled Oktoberfest. Now we love our board games, but Germans love Oktoberfest as much or more. 

There was an article on the front page of the Indy Star this morning entitled How  will the  conventionb emerge from pandemic. They mentioned a bunch of small 5000 person conventions rescheduling but not one mention of gencon in the article article.

There was one interesting quote they did state they are running out of available slots to reschedule conventions for the rest of this year.

I assume the delay in cancelling is so they can be ordered to cancel and likely get an insurance pay out. But holding a large convention immediately after (or during) a global pandemic is probably the most irresponsible thing someone could do.

The short of it is, for me, if Gencon, or any large convention, goes on as normal mere weeks after total lock down over a pandemic, I’d have to think long and hard about ever supporting that organization again.

They just begun doing studies and even the most aggressive estimates would put the hardest hit areas (New York) at a reasonably high percentage of people hit, but still a far cry off from herd immunity. But the entire country doesn’t hit herd immunity at the same time.

The Santa Clara study showed 2-3% had been infected. Even taking that number that is well under herd immunity. And the false positive rate in the test they used was... 2-3%.

It is going to be a while before society can get back to fully normal, that’s the nature of this pandemic. But there has been absolutely no study or data that suggests anywhere in the country has even approached herd immunity. If anything the flat to slow decline while being in extreme lockdowns in most places indicates just how far from herd immunity we are. You can’t just say “if it’s not herd immunity then I can’t do the thing I want, therefore it’s herd immunity!”. Again, that’s not how this works.

I’d love to have Gencon this year. I’d love to have other conferences this year. Opening up too early and reverting to “life as normal” will only prolong this. 
 

I assume the delay in cancelling is so they can be ordered to cancel and likely get an insurance pay out. But holding a large convention immediately after (or during) a global pandemic is probably the most irresponsible thing someone could do.

Because happy talk aside, if the con goes forward it's going forward with far fewer vendors, events and attendees.

I really do hope I have already had this thing so that I feel like it's safe to attend.  But if I haven't, then I won't.   

Herd immunity generally requires that 60% to 80% of the population develop immunity. First, the infection rate has not been that high yet and is unlikely to be by July. Second, there has been no evidence that a person who has had the COVID-19 infection has any immunity from reinfection. While most viruses do leave immunity in their wake, this one seems to linger as there have been reports of reinfection in South Korea. Thus, it is difficult to tell when, or if, we will ever have herd immunity from this disease. Perhaps the best we can hope for is partial immunity or mutation of the virus to a less destructive form.