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How would you breathe life into Indy?


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2 minutes ago, Madera Dons said:

How about a little Red and Green for a change.

There needs to be more orange in drum corps

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Since everyone is jumping on the post-2028 alternate location bandwagon, here are a few more major cities with indoor NFL stadiums. Why not have a 4-5 city rotation?

Minneapolis at US Bank Stadium (completely biased assessment)

Pro: Totally biased since I live here, but the dining+nightlife+entertainment factor in Mpls/St. Paul is in the top-tier of the midwest. There is something for everyone: want to attend a sporting event? See a Twins game on the other side of downtown or a Saints (minor league) game in the heart of St. Paul. Dive bars and breweries? Go to Northeast. Parks and trails? Plenty of them all over Minneapolis.

The area has hosted major DCI events before and would have enough housing for all groups. The marching scene isn't at the level of Texas/Indy, but it's growing.

The stadium itself is brand new and gorgeous on the inside (the ETFE roof allows tons of natural light).

Con: The stadium concourses are disappointingly small. Was here for a marching band show last fall, and the acoustics weren't as terrible as the Alamodome/older indoor venues, but weren't great either. The groups were facing the north sideline (visitors side), which may have helped acoustically due to the tilted roof.

Downtown Minneapolis is constantly changing, for better/worse. Nightlife in downtown kind of sucks right now. Parking is very limited, so a lot of attendees would be recommended to use the light rail. Warm up spots would be limited.

Atlanta at Mecedes-Benz Stadium

Pro: Brand new stadium. Experience with hosting regionals and supporting lots of groups. Huge city with nightlife in certain hot spots.

Con: I haven't been here in years, but the area surrounding the Georgia Dome/convention hasn't been great. Has there been any redevelopment around it?

Dallas at AT&T Stadium

Pro: The prototype of all modern NFL stadiums, located in one of the biggest hotbeds of the marching scene.

Con: I haven't been to Dallas in over a decade, and have never been to this stadium ... but from what I've heard, the stadium is surrounded by nothing. Almost no public transportation, apparently. Might be prohibitively expensive for DCI.

New Orleans at the Superdome

Pro: It's New Orleans!

Con: ... It's also New Orleans ...

Glendale at the UofPhnx Stadium

Pro: Easier for west coast fans. Natural grass! I know nothing about the area or stadium besides that

Con: I don't know enough about the area/stadium

Los Angeles at the new Inglewood Stadium

Pro: Again, west coast fans would finally stop complaining. The stadium design seems to take the best elements of the Vikings/Cowboys/Falcons stadiums. Really intrigued by the ETFE roof.

Con: The idea of Stan Kroenke being involved probably means he would make this prohibitively expensive and a logistical nightmare.

Also, since it's indoor ... all the west coasters' wacky tobbacky smoke would turn the stadium into a giant hotbox (I kid, I kid).

Edited by ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar
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When they moved things to Indianapolis I completely understood the logic. It has mostly worked out for DCI. The pros seem to outweigh the negatives.

Pros

  • Home of DCI (easy to manage for the corporate office)
  • LOS is a very nice facility with good parking, easy entry, nice seating areas, easy access to food and drinks, air conditioned, good seats
  • Indiana is a great H.S. band state, so local schools are willing to take part in housing the corps. This was often very difficult in other states.
  • Indiana is home to BOA and has lots of kids that march corps style, and the same is true with surrounding states. With the exception of Texas, having DCI Finals in Indy allows lots of BOA students to make the trip (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Iowa, Wisconsin, etc)
  • Downtown Indianapolis has lots of hotels and restaurants and shopping. It's not the biggest downtown area, but that makes it nicer to get around. It's not a megalopolis with horrible traffic and crazy parking (the way Atlanta would be, not to mention L.A. or New York). 
  • Indy has a nice airport and uncluttered highways that take you anywhere in the city (again, see above)

Cons

  • LOS is a dome with a retractable roof that for some reason never gets opened for Finals, even if the weather is nice. The acoustics and echo kill some of the excitement in sound, and at time they hurt the corps performing who have to account for the echo and timing issues.
  • Although Indianapolis is a big city (much bigger than Madison, WI), it lacks some of the flare and scenic beauty that other large cities have.  Madison is much smaller, but sits between two beautiful lakes. You have the UW main campus sitting next to one of those lakes in a really pretty setting, and the UW football stadium is open air and has a wonderful sound to it. Madison is also easy to get around, although hotel stay can be tricky compared to Indy. 
  • Not changing up locations every year or two can become boring for fans. In this case we have been at Indy for a long time.  People may ultimately get bored with Indy. They start seeing it too much and pretty soon they decide not to attend Finals. It was fun when DCI gave fans a chance to travel a bit more to different locations.  Buffalo, NY gave people a chance to see Niagara and head into Canada. Boston is filled with adventures, especially historical...plus an ocean and Cape Cod. Kansas City had great sound, but I do prefer Indy to KC. I love Madison. Chicago would be neat, but likely too difficult for the corps. Same with Atlanta, although they will have a nice new stadium soon. Denver is a perfect town for DCI Finals. Lots to do in Denver, and the food and beer are amazing. I thought the University of Maryland was nice, and you are in the Washington, D.C and Baltimore, MD region.  Of course, the West Coast is fun, but going to Pasadena is expensive for many of the corps. At any rate, there are nice places to go and I do think fans miss the variety of travel.  But Indy has worked out well to this point.
  • There are more I am sure

 

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With Indy being a travel hub, and easy on logistics, and consistent for corps budgets, I can see why they keep it there.   I think the concern is that sometimes you, as a traveler want more from you vacation.  

Perhaps bringing in drum corps alumni (Al Chez for example)  to play at the local clubs during a night after the shows, or during the day before Semis and Finals.  Give the audiences (at least the ones with some age, and money) something different.  

When finals were in Orlando, we had corps doing parades and performances at Disney on Wednesday, which made you want to go to Disney for I&E as well as the parks.  Perhaps there's a way to get I&E into a nicer part of the city, than the convention center.

 

And there are other parts of the city to use, that are prettier than the area near the stadium.  I used to visit Indy every other week when I was in grad school at Purdue.  (because Lafayette is really lame)  Try some of them.

Edited by C.Holland
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People who think Indianapolis is boring have never left their hotels or Lucas Oil Stadium.  My only suggestion would to let restaurants and bars stay open later Friday and Saturday nights and maybe make deals with local cab companies for better rates.  Since 95% of hotels are Marriott owned property, don't expect any price deals.  Shuttle buses to get fans greater ease to see other parts of the city would be a cost benefit and a win-win for local businesses.  I'll admit I love Indy after living there two years (even before the downtown boom), but I understand the city needs to work more on expanding visitors' experience.      

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The way I would breathe life into Indy has nothing to do the town itself, but the competition.

It goes back to the earliest days of DCI:  make the Championship week the first time all the corps competed in one show.

It means scaling back the regionals to having fewer corps and never having the top 6 all in one competition until Indianapolis.

I promise you ticket sales to all the shows in Indy would double.

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