DC in 1992
An unsuccessful bid to bring the 1992 Worldcon to Washington, DC, and opposed by Orlando in '92. The DC bid was forced to withdraw a few months before the vote at Noreascon Three because mundane groups took their proposed facilities.
Organization of the DC in '92 bid to bring Worldcon to Washington, DC, began in 1986 when Kent Bloom and Jack Heneghan contacted the Sheraton Park (the site of Discon II and many Disclaves), the Shoreham (across the street), and the Washington Hilton hotel (a few blocks south along Connecticut Avenue) and got their agreement to host a Worldcon. In late 1986, WSFA approved setting up a study committee and appointed Kent Bloom to chair it.
The bid was unusual in that it was upfront in saying that it would be "Discon III" if it won -- bid rarely announce the name of the convention they propose to run.
Before long, the committee was bidding and running a hot contest against the Orlando in '92 committee. In February 1989, after having filed their site selection papers, the committee received word that B'nai B'rith International was about to sign a contract for the space at the Sheraton Washington they hoped to use for Worldcon.
Like most bids, they had an agreement with their facilities that the facilities would attempt to hold the space for them, and would give them rights of first refusal if someone else wanted the space. Since B'nai B'rith International was prepared to sign a binding contract, the Sheraton required the bid to do the same if it wanted the hotel to turn away B'nai B'rith International's business. If DC in 1992 signed the contract and then lost, this would have required payment of about $100,000 to void the contract. The hotel apparently tried to get B'nai B'rith International to move dates, but was unable to do so.
(Interestingly, there are unconfirmed reports that B'nai B'rith didn't wind up holding their convention at the proposed DC in '92 venues on Worldcon weekend.)
The DC in 1992 bid committee decided that the remaining facilities (the Omni, the Hilton and part of the Sheraton) was insufficient to run a Worldcon and abandoned their bid around April 1989. Because the ballot had been finalized and mailed out beforehand, they were on the site selection ballot. See 1992 Worldcon Site Selection.
Steve Miller was one of the founders of the bid. Joe Mayhew was bid secretary.
See also Baltiwash Worldcons.
| 1992 Site Selection | 1992 |
| This is a page about a convention bid. Please extend it by adding information about who was bidding, officers, committee list, what they were bidding for, who their opponents were, and who won. |
