Comic-Con sells out in 90 minutes

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SAN DIEGO, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Tickets for the annual pop culture orgy Comic-Con sold out in less than two hours online, organizers said.

Tickets to the event, sold in single-day and four-day passes, were gone in little more than 90 minutes. With an online waiting room reaching capacity in mere moments, many would-be attendees were shut out shortly after the 9 a.m. start-time.

Organizers acknowledge the event, which draws some 130,000 attendees to San Diego each July, has sorely outgrown the city's convention center. Plans to expand the center to accommodate the event are stalled, awaiting a court's decision on whether an increased hotel tax aimed at helping fund the $520 million expansion is legal, U-T San Diego said Saturday.

An economic study found Comic-Con generates $67.8 million in economic activity annually for the city. Organizers said they're committed to keeping the event in San Diego through at least 2016, despite being heavily courted by other municipalities.