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Neglecting the West - We need a real national tour


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I apologize if I offended you. I'll go back and edit my post to tone it down a bit. This is just something I feel strongly about and I'm particularly annoyed about it at the moment for some reason.

You didn't offend me at all. I just want to see some good come out of this because I'm totally behind your overall point. DCPers need to realize how they come across. Best of luck!

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It's not fair, but a major reason probably is that the distance between major population centers in the West (apart from the coast) is so large that corps would have to perform fewer shows. Once the western corps reach the Midwest and East, they can travel relatively quickly from one sizeable metro area to the next.

That's a good point, although again, it isn't something that the western corps don't deal with on an annual basis. I guess it might reduce the total aggregate volume of DCI shows. I think any revenue loss to DCI would be made up by increased attendance at bigger shows in the west though. I get that it would disrupt the way some corps operate, but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

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Are most of the shows in the west well attended? How many people do the stadiums seat? Perhaps something could be worked out in the future.

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If DCI does decide to have its Finals again outdoors,instead of a domed stadium, then the OP has a point, imo.

West Coast can be assured of a higher probabality of not raining during Prelims and Championships than a venue outdoors in the Midwest or the East Coast.

DCI also had a decent Finals crowd attendance compared with Indy when finals was out there in 2007 in Pasadena.

Edited by BRASSO
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I am from Indiana (west side of Indianapolis), 10 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium. I would be all for having DCI Finals in California, or Denver, or Tempe, or Seattle, or (insert city here).

I absolutely hate drum corps indoors.

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It's especially unfortunate when one of the Top 6 CA corps doesn't even do the full west coast tour. Last year SCV didn't travel to SoCA at all, and this year BD went right from the SoCA shows to the mid-west. There is a very clear reason why DCI Finals in the Rose Bowl is the highest attended finals in the 'modern' era (i.e. the era in which DCI actually started accurately counting paid attendance), and that's because west coast LOVES their drum corps! Crown got a TON of love last summer when they came out, as did Phantom in 2008, Cadets in 2001 and 2011, etc. I wish more high quality corps would make the trip.

BUT...

I get the finances; it doesn't make a ton of sense for a corps to travel cross-country for a few weeks of (mostly weekend only) shows, only to then travel back to the mid-west. I understand it was likely a logistical nightmare for DCI to rearrange their tour schedule in order to "pull off" 2007 finals in CA, and I get that it was likely a financial burden on several corps. In lieu of a plethora of great WC Finalist corps who compete in the west coast, we thankfully have Fan Network. It's not the same, I'll grant you that, but for the same cost/cheaper than a family a four to attend a small-ish CA show (it would've been $80 for a family of four to buy tickets to the San Diego show in Vista; $120 or more in Riverside or Walnut I think) you can get live streams of around a dozen shows, see all the corps progress throughout the summer, etc. I don't mind too much missing out on great live drum corps as I can watch great drum corps on my TV almost every week of the summer! It's a fair tradeoff, I think

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Also, what shows only had SCV and BK (and Open Class) corps at them? Frankly, I'd love to see Crossmen, Academy, Mandarins, Oregon Crusaders (who may just surprise you this year), Pacific Crest, etc.

You're slighting a lot of the west shows like they're all total crap. Try going to a show out here where you only get 5 corps in a night, an hour intermission, and where it is 10x more likely to get rained out. I feel your pain, but not really.

The show this Saturday in Sacramento, CA has Mandarins as the headlines (and only WC corps), and then the OC west coast corps. BK, SCV, Crossmen went up to the Pacific north west, and with BD in the midwest that makes for some slim pickings in some of the western shows this season

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I'll give your post some credit if you can accept that it's not fair to the "East Coast" corps to have limited panels every night while full 8-person panels are at nearly every show in the west during the start of the season. I'll say that's a fair trade off, along with the glamour of being able to score an 85 the first week of July. Also, what shows only had SCV and BK (and Open Class) corps at them? Frankly, I'd love to see Crossmen, Academy, Mandarins, Oregon Crusaders (who may just surprise you this year), Pacific Crest, etc.

You're slighting a lot of the west shows like they're all total crap. Try going to a show out here where you only get 5 corps in a night, an hour intermission, and where it is 10x more likely to get rained out. I feel your pain, but not really.

You mean like Blue Devils scoring an 86.2 on July 3rd 2014?

In Cederburg WI (i.e. mid-west)

With a non-full panel

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OK, Sacramento notwithstanding. You still have many shows out here with ONLY Open Class at it. The majority of California shows though have a decent lineup most of the time, you have to admit. I just think you're overstating the crappiness part of it. Get in the car and travel out here then. I go to Texas every year, and often Allentown, Atlanta, wherever. Two years ago I went to Stanford. And I'm from Indianapolis, home of DCI Finals!

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You mean like Blue Devils scoring an 86.2 on July 3rd 2014?

In Cederburg WI (i.e. mid-west)

With a non-full panel

That inflation trend follows BD like the plague and you know it. It could have been a show in ICELAND and they would have scored higher than they deserved. You get the point I hope. Plus, tonight has really never happened before. You can go back the previous 30 years and not find an 86 on July 3rd. It's an outlier and certainly not common.

Edited by IMcomguy
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