Comic-Con to stay in San Diego through 2016

LOS ANGELES — Storm Troopers, cyborgs, superheroes and other comic-book fans can count on their annual pilgrimage to San Diego for another four years.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced Monday that Comic-Con has extended its contract with the city through 2016. It had been set to expire in 2015.

Sanders said the pop-culture convention draws 130,000 visitors from around the world and contributes more than $180 million to the city’s economy.

Comic-Con began in San Diego in 1970 but has become so popular over the past four decades that it has outgrown the San Diego Convention Center.

Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer says city officials and local businesses have helped the event remain in San Diego by allowing organizers to expand beyond the convention center to “create a Comic-Con campus.”