The San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park is to be reborn as the Comic-Con Centre for Popular Culture.
Out will go Bob Breitbard’s collection of sporting memorabilia to make way for all things superhero, from comics to conventions.
Comic-Con is a nonprofit group founded in the city in 1970. The centre is to become a museum to celebrate superheroes, blockbuster movies and comic books. It will feature rotating exhibitions.
Meanwhile, the sports museum’s Breitbard Hall of Fame will move to Petco Park’s Western Metal Building.
A number of the Hall of Champions’ historical items plus all of its photographs and archives will be housed at the San Diego History Centre in the park.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer described the new museum as ‘a great permanent fixture for San Diegans and visitors alike to celebrate pop culture all year long’.
According to the lease agreement, the centre “will be a place to learn about and interact with comics and related popular art forms on a year-round basis.
“(The museum) will not be a collection institution. Exhibits will pull from collectors, museums, galleries and other sources, and will refresh on a regular basis to provide a dynamic visitor experience.”
Dan Shea, a Hall of Champions board member, said the news was not unexpected. The sports museum could not have carried on operating with a skeletal staff of just six people:
“It’s the changing world of museums and how people use them.”
The Comic-Con Centre for Popular Culture is not expected to open before 2018.
Image courtesy Comic-Con, Batman TM & © DC Comics; Batman: The Animated Series © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
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