2013 Attendance numbers are out

[wishbonecav]

More people attended the Crown and BD rehearsals (albeit for free) than attended the OC Championships combined.

The Monday-Tuesday thing is a poor excuse at this point for a Championship contest. 3 years of low attendance in Michigan City is enough proof that there is little interest in the current FORMAT. There can be no argument that it is NOT a quality issue with SCVC, BDB, Spartans and Music City demonstrating top 25 material. Its a show worth watching.

Solution: Since the OC's get their shot at the big stadium now as a matter of course on Thursday for Prelims (which is great), have the DCI Open Class World Championships on the prior Friday-Saturday at a location known to support drum corps and near enough to Indy for travel. Thought comes to mind that Lake Erie Fanfare or Drums Along the Waterfront (Buffalo) have enough of a following to be the host.

Invite a few alumni corps (St Joe's for example) for exhibitions or, perhaps, have a WC presence as part of the show (perhaps a few in the 17-22 range to add an additional drawing card) and it becomes a strong Championship weekend. The medalists would roll into Indy with fresh competitive credentials and be able to savor their accomplishments for a few days before Prelims.

Monday-Tuesday events in the host city could continue, but with a freshening of some sort. Perhaps they could emphasize the seminar/camp/clinic aspect with a mass corps finale; an opportunity to draw an interested crowd and sell a few tickets for Thursday and Friday.

Lat thought: DCI has come in as a 20,000 person event. That actually makes sense. The movie theatre thing is super strong and delivery of the online finals gives those who dont have a 35 yard line to 35 yard line seat a good view. Lets face it, if you got the 20,001st ticket, its probably not as good a view (or sound) as watching the game from home. Yes, Montreal drew 42000, but half of those were lousy seats. So would be every additional seat in a "sold out" stadium. 3400 people got a front row seat with the broadcast and that is pure scale for DCI. Way to go. Its a 21st Century solution to expanding sales. Given that there isnt much of an opportunity to grow the live Saturday night crowd, that Friday has taken care of itself and Thursday is BigLoudLive ...the Monday-Tuesday/OC event is where some real ideas can make an impact.

"The two-day paid attendance total for Open Class World Championship events in Michigan City, Ind. (Aug. 6-7) came in at 1,415, an increase from the previous year, up from 1,308 in 2012."

I wonder what the total attendance, paid or not, was for O.C. championships. As noted here, the total (one-day) attendance at the O.C. show three days earlier in Avon Lake, OH, was about 3,200.

[Fred Windish]

wishbonecav wrote:

" DCI has come in as a 20,000 person event. That actually makes sense. The movie theatre thing is super strong and delivery of the online finals gives those who dont have a 35 yard line to 35 yard line seat a good view. Lets face it, if you got the 20,001st ticket, its probably not as good a view (or sound) as watching the game from home. Yes, Montreal drew 42000, but half of those were lousy seats. So would be every additional seat in a "sold out" stadium. 3400 people got a front row seat with the broadcast and that is pure scale for DCI. Way to go. Its a 21st Century solution to expanding sales. Given that there isnt much of an opportunity to grow the live Saturday night crowd, that Friday has taken care of itself and Thursday is BigLoudLive ...the Monday-Tuesday/OC event is where some real ideas can make an impact. "

EXACTLY!

Revenue from live, in-person ticket sales is now less important than it was a few years ago. Obviously, a big number there is great, but DCI can be financially healthy through other means.

[danielray]

Prelims for the lower-tier corps, and start it later in the day, so that the corps who won't make Semis get to have their last performance later in the day. (As he said: "The purpose of Prelims is to determine which groups make it to Semis, yet the last corps to not make the Semis went on just after lunch for a show that ended at midnight.") And do whatever is necessary to increase the Prelims attendance, including free tickets to students whose contact information is collected. (I'd add: don't let anyone sit outside the 40-yard lines at that show!) Thoughts on that idea? The major problem that jumps to mind is what to do about the cinema show. Garfield protested that "many of us go to see the WC corps three times", but surely he uses the word "many" rather loosely in this instance, given the attendance at Prelims even at the evening's end. He also wondered about fans valuing a free show as worth nothing. That's certainly a concern I'm familiar with in the theatre (a colleague's slogan is "live by the comp, die by the comp") but even so we find occasions when it helps to "paper" the house, usually to build word-of-mouth when early sales are slow.

I was at Prelims, Semis and Finals. Very few people were at all 3 shows... not enough to make this any decision-making factor.

Prelims was a ghost town... even the last corps of the night. Why? People know they can see these same corps the next two nights. They're out at restaurants, at bars, drinking in hotel lobbies... not in the stadium.

They are in town, but they are more interested in socializing than seeing 3 full days and nights of drum corps back to back. I do not blame them. 3 days of drum corps performances, with mostly the same groups is overload.

Yep, give away tickets outside the 30s (still not bad seats at all there between 40s-30s) and the endzones. Fill the place up.

The other thing that really needs to be tweaked is the stuff going on around the stadium and in between the stadium and cluster if hotels. Park giant LED screens in public spaces showing the stadium feed.... get the stadium feed piped into every bar, pub, restaurant, hotel lobby and shopping mall around the downtown. This won't cannibalize ticket sales, as most people that would be watching it already have tickets or passes and just don't want to be stuck in the stadium.

Everywhere you go in Indy during finals, every cafe, restaurant, bar, whatever.... it is loaded up with drum corps people... probably spending more money in the town than they do on anything related to drum corps. They need to eat, they will drink, they want to socialize.

There are also segments that want different things... like the younger crowd at Basey's vs. older crowd at the Omni. Why not a few different places more specifically organized... and sell wristbands to get into those places that would have food, drink, live music?

Anyway, bottom line is this...

1) Top 15 corps should perform only Friday and Saturday. The 3rd days doesn't help ticket sales and is just too much.

2) Should not possible to buy tickets for Prelims outside only a premium block of seats. Tickets should are available on a first come first served basis by registering online and completing survey.

3) 3 days of watching drum corps is too much, but 3 days of hanging out with old friends and alumni is barely enough. Emphasis should be placed on balancing this and create opportunities that support socializing... and make $$ from it.

4) There should be more family activities and make a package of tickets available for families (doesn't have to be good seats), other things for kids to do (too much drum corps to keep kids attention)

5) DCI should probably not be the one to execute on all this, they have a lot on their plate... but should just make the necessary adjustments and pass the opportunities here to 3rd parties

[danielray]

Lat thought: DCI has come in as a 20,000 person event. That actually makes sense. The movie theatre thing is super strong and delivery of the online finals gives those who dont have a 35 yard line to 35 yard line seat a good view. Lets face it, if you got the 20,001st ticket, its probably not as good a view (or sound) as watching the game from home. Yes, Montreal drew 42000, but half of those were lousy seats. So would be every additional seat in a "sold out" stadium. 3400 people got a front row seat with the broadcast and that is pure scale for DCI. Way to go. Its a 21st Century solution to expanding sales. Given that there isnt much of an opportunity to grow the live Saturday night crowd, that Friday has taken care of itself and Thursday is BigLoudLive ...the Monday-Tuesday/OC event is where some real ideas can make an impact.

Grow both.

It should not matter that seats in the stadium are not that great, it should be more about the experience. There should be more of a festival type experience around DCI events, not just some marching bands warming up and playing shows.

Every step you take should be an experience. This is why people would go, even with lousy tickets, vs. watch online.

[MikeD]

So had we not been vacationing and happened to run into the DCI display...97 would've been lower by 2 people. YAY US

Hey! Looks like Boo found his two new people! :tongue:/>

[MikeD]

1) Top 15 corps should perform only Friday and Saturday. The 3rd days doesn't help ticket sales and is just too much.

there are probably lots of reasons this is a bad idea..just thinking off the top...

What about the idea of alternating OC and WC...e.g. Wed and Friday OC prelims/finals and Thursday/Saturday WC prelims/finals, all at Lucas?

[Michael Boo]

Hey! Looks like Boo found his two new people! :tongue:/>/>

Bob and Meg! I thought they had moved to Antarctica.

[cixelsyd]

More people attended the Crown and BD rehearsals (albeit for free) than attended the OC Championships combined.

The Monday-Tuesday thing is a poor excuse at this point for a Championship contest. 3 years of low attendance in Michigan City is enough proof that there is little interest in the current FORMAT. There can be no argument that it is NOT a quality issue with SCVC, BDB, Spartans and Music City demonstrating top 25 material. Its a show worth watching.

Solution: Since the OC's get their shot at the big stadium now as a matter of course on Thursday for Prelims (which is great), have the DCI Open Class World Championships on the prior Friday-Saturday at a location known to support drum corps and near enough to Indy for travel. Thought comes to mind that Lake Erie Fanfare or Drums Along the Waterfront (Buffalo) have enough of a following to be the host.

And what does that accomplish, really? You take the show away from one of the greatest hosts a drum corps contest has ever had, and leave a gaping hole in the tour between OC finals and WC prelims? OC corps would be stranded on the road for several days with no contests and no paydays.

Now, if the deal was sweetened by adding tons of OC corps to WC shows between Allentown and Indy Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, all competing on the same sheets, and all getting appearance fees, maybe that would be a tangibly worthwhile format change.

Edited August 22, 2013 by cixelsyd

[Michael Boo]

More people attended the Crown and BD rehearsals (albeit for free) than attended the OC Championships combined.

The Monday-Tuesday thing is a poor excuse at this point for a Championship contest. 3 years of low attendance in Michigan City is enough proof that there is little interest in the current FORMAT. There can be no argument that it is NOT a quality issue with SCVC, BDB, Spartans and Music City demonstrating top 25 material. Its a show worth watching.

The Open Class directors are the ones who decided upon Michigan City and they're the ones who can get it changed if they wish, and having been to every one of the Division II & III/Open Class Championships over the past few decades, I can confidently state that what I witness in Michigan City is far from low attendance. I've been to such events held in the same cities (or very close by) and sometimes even the same stadium as the World Class corps that had far less in attendance. (2000 at the University of Maryland seemed to be different because the former Showcase of (I&E) Champions was mixed into the Finals performances for Division II & III corps.) I was at the Finals in Madison years ago when DCI decided to give FREE tickets out to prior ticket holders for the bigger event and had that Finals on the same day as Division I Finals, in the same stadium. The stadium stands were practically uninhabited. There was a small fraction of people there compared to those who show up in Michigan City.

Solution: Since the OC's get their shot at the big stadium now as a matter of course on Thursday for Prelims (which is great), have the DCI Open Class World Championships on the prior Friday-Saturday at a location known to support drum corps and near enough to Indy for travel. Thought comes to mind that Lake Erie Fanfare or Drums Along the Waterfront (Buffalo) have enough of a following to be the host.

Why...that would be Michigan City! In addition, the Allentown show generally takes up those two nights. The Open Class corps sweep through a number of contests on the way to Michigan City that have been cultivated over a long period of time...shows that require a lot less travel heading towards Indy than Erie or Buffalo would require.

Invite a few alumni corps (St Joe's for example) for exhibitions or, perhaps, have a WC presence as part of the show (perhaps a few in the 17-22 range to add an additional drawing card) and it becomes a strong Championship weekend. The medalists would roll into Indy with fresh competitive credentials and be able to savor their accomplishments for a few days before Prelims.

As opposed to rolling into Indy from Michigan City with fresh competitive credentials?

Monday-Tuesday events in the host city could continue, but with a freshening of some sort. Perhaps they could emphasize the seminar/camp/clinic aspect with a mass corps finale; an opportunity to draw an interested crowd and sell a few tickets for Thursday and Friday.

The big issue here, IMHO, is most drum corps fans aren't going to take off an entire week from work. Michigan City pulls in locals who have learned to expect a good show. I've seen marketing efforts in other cities fall flat in the attempt to bring in locals to provide a nice crowd for what we now call Open Class Finals.

Lat thought: DCI has come in as a 20,000 person event. That actually makes sense. The movie theatre thing is super strong and delivery of the online finals gives those who dont have a 35 yard line to 35 yard line seat a good view. Lets face it, if you got the 20,001st ticket, its probably not as good a view (or sound) as watching the game from home. Yes, Montreal drew 42000, but half of those were lousy seats. So would be every additional seat in a "sold out" stadium. 3400 people got a front row seat with the broadcast and that is pure scale for DCI. Way to go. Its a 21st Century solution to expanding sales. Given that there isnt much of an opportunity to grow the live Saturday night crowd, that Friday has taken care of itself and Thursday is BigLoudLive ...the Monday-Tuesday/OC event is where some real ideas can make an impact.

Come back next year when the attendance at Montreal will have surpassed 50,000. :tongue:/> But with the above paragraph, you answered why the Open Class corps have themselves chosen to go to Michigan City...the fans all get a "front-row" seat.

During all the times I've read commentary about why the Open Class corps shouldn't go to Michigan City, there is one thing I haven't read...comments from Open Class corps directors about why they shouldn't go to Michigan City. They're the ones that decided to do that...they're the ones that can decide to change it.

Whenever someone advocates something else, without realizing it, they're telling the Open Class directors they know what's best for their corps more than the directors do themselves.

[OrlandoContraAlum]

That number keeps growing (and dramatically so, it seems) every time I see it thrown about.

No kidding! Especially considering that Olympic Stadium only has a capacity of 66,000 or so. Must have been a TON of folks in the end zones and on the back sidelines...