Forgive the newbie question, but I've never been to GenCon before. How late do events run on the final day?

I'm looking at hotels, and wondering whether I should book an overnight stay on 8/7, so just plan to head home that afternoon.

Thanks!

I think, don't quote me on this, that most everything is wrapped up by about 4pm on Sunday. If memory serves me correctly, the exhibit hall is closed at 4, most people have left already, and the event list is pretty light for the last day. And some events don't even fire because people don't show up to events.

I looked at Gen Con 2021, and no events ended after 4:00.

If you can stay, you should stay.  The thing that many people do not think about (even I did not think about it until I had attended for several years) is that if you check out Sunday that means you miss at least some vital convention time on packing, bringing your luggage to the car, finding a new place to park, and whatever other logistics come up.  And indeed in my experience this sometimes makes people just want to leave and you get into an argument with your roommates about whether it is worth staying (it is always worth staying!).  No arguments about Sunday afternoon if you have the room until Monday morning!  Haha.

The events and exhibit hall hours all end at 4pm.  So, yeah, the convention is over at 4pm.  If it is important to save that day of work vacation or dollars for a hotel day, you can sure leave Sunday.  That is common.  It is what I used to do.

However, I now like to stay over to Monday morning.  Partly for the reasons quarex mentions above -- I don't want to end up making it a 3-day convention.  But, also, I come with friends and we have Sunday night to do gaming in the hotel.  It isn't really a wasted day for us, even after 4pm.   We have a long drive.  If we leave on Sunday, it's late if we leave after 4.  

Isn't there some post-convention event called Gen Con Rear Guard on Sunday night too?

I normally leave on Sunday around 12 or 1 due to a ten hour drive home.  I finally determined if I'm going to come all this way, why short myself with leaving early.  I've decided to stay all day Sunday and enjoy every bit of the convention.   

I'll leave after the convention ends, get a good evening dinner, drive 3-4 hours, get a cheapo hotel, then get home the next day.

Staying Sunday night and leaving on Monday is much more preferable in my opinion.  You have Sunday evening to unwind, relax, and play more games in your hotel lobby if you want to.  Leave Monday when you're rested and you can avoid the crunch of people trying to get to the airport/out of town Sunday night.

One Sunday consideration is that there's going to be a 1:35 baseball game at Victory field (right next to the convention center).  Traffic is an absolute cluster from Noon-ish to 2:00-ish.  I like to go over to the Exhibit Hall one more time before we head out, but we'll bail if there's a game.  Maybe one year we'll try staying until Monday.

The NFL schedule hasn't been announced yet, but I would assume the Gen Con weekend is too early for a pre-season Colts game.  It would likely be Saturday night if there was one.

However, note that the Rear Guard is not an official Gen Con event, just something organized by attendees.  Gen Con officially turns into a pumpkin at 4pm Sunday; exhibit hall closes, and all events end.