How would you breathe life into Indy?

[Madera Dons]

17 minutes ago, ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar said:

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).

How about Levi Stadium in Santa Clara.

[garfield]

1 minute ago, barigirl78 said:

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.

You might be right, but doubling finals week still doesn't make up for the lost sales from ending regionals.

[ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar]

13 minutes ago, Madera Dons said:

How about Levi Stadium in Santa Clara.

Way better area for finals than LA, that's for sure. But I've heard mixed reviews about the stadium experience, with the biggest negatives being the lack of shade and horrible parking.

[whitedj2002]

Been to Lucas 4 times, 2 for BOA and twice for DCI. Try Indy in November with 250 kids and all the participating bands in BOA, not exactly boring but a nightmare... I get the (somewhat) central location but I am over it. Fix FLO I'm not going back anytime soon. Levi Stadium is ideal in my California way of thinking!

[Madera Dons]

On 4/28/2017 at 2:11 PM, BRASSO said:

 Somebody mentioned " eliminate retreats " or at least " speed up the retreats ".

 

This posting is making me feel old.  I have been watching DCI events since Pacific Procession in June of 1978 and haven't missed a season since.

In the early years, retreats at all shows were full retreats.All of the corps were on the field for the awarding of scores and captions.  After the scores were announced and the DM's returned to their corps the corps left in reverse order.  As a corps was announced they would play a little and march off in front of the winning corps paying tribute to them. When the winning corps was announced they were told they field was theirs and they played for the crowd.  This was all a part of the competition and the fans stayed for it.  Today the stands a pretty much empty when the scores are announced.

I was told that this practice stopped because the corps needed to pack up to move on to their next show and didn't want to stay around to the end.  Most would just leave their DM's and they would get a ride in a van to catch up with their respective corps.

To me, this was one of the best parts of a competition.  To hear the corps one more time before they left the field.  Each one had their own special way of playing and leaving the field. Who remembers palm trees and beach chairs?

For me, retreats shouldn't be eliminated or speeded up, they should be a part of the Drum Corps experience.

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Madera Dons

[Sideways]

Crazy Harry has the right idea for Indy.

[defeldus2]

Indi is my favorite trip of the year, because Gencon and DCI are back to back 

[c mor]

On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 3:50 PM, Stu said:

The Nashville Cats who fused Jazz with Bluegrass are GREAT: Mark O'Connor, Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, etc...

 

That's HOT!!   Bluegrass Chick Corea 

 

Average August temperature in San Francisco is 68 degrees.   I know space is an issue in S.F. but I think everyone would appreciate a break from the hot summer tour.

[ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar]

37 minutes ago, Madera Dons said:

This posting is making me feel old.  I have been watching DCI events since Pacific Procession in June of 1978 and haven't missed a season since.

In the early years, retreats at all shows were full retreats.All of the corps were on the field for the awarding of scores and captions.  After the scores were announced and the DM's returned to their corps the corps left in reverse order.  As a corps was announced they would play a little and march off in front of the winning corps paying tribute to them. When the winning corps was announced they were told they field was theirs and they played for the crowd.  This was all a part of the competition and the fans stayed for it.  Today the stands a pretty much empty when the scores are announced.

I was told that this practice stopped because the corps needed to pack up to move on to their next show and didn't want to stay around to the end.  Most would just leave their DM's and they would get a ride in a van to catch up with their respective corps.

To me, this was one of the best parts of a competition.  To hear the corps one more time before they left the field.  Each one had their own special way of playing and leaving the field. Who remembers palm trees and beach chairs?

For me, retreats shouldn't be eliminated or speeded up, they should be a part of the Drum Corps experience.

 

The fan part of me mostly agrees with you.

But as a member: I hated retreat. It always depended on the show. Some were nice and quick about it, and others took forever. The worst was always the midwest shows, where we would get eaten alive by bugs while staying locked down ... meanwhile the Cavaliers/BD would be talking and making a mockery of the entire thing. This was at every single show, even the ones in podunk towns where nobody cared about scores anyway.

When they got rid of it for every show, we actually had free time to decompress or practice.

There were some great retreat moments. We did a traditional one at one show where every corps played off and left the field ... which was really cool (especially hearing SCV play "Send in the Clowns" for the first time). It was also nice to see smaller shows actually be treated the same as bigger regionals.

But the logistics outweigh the nostalgia. DCI can and should do more to help the fan experience, but full retreat isn't it (in my opinion).

Edited July 26, 2017 by ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar
grammar

[Chief Guns]

59 minutes ago, ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar said:

Way better area for finals than LA, that's for sure. But I've heard mixed reviews about the stadium experience, with the biggest negatives being the lack of shade and horrible parking.

As a diehard Niners fan who has been to 17 games already at Levi's, the lack of shade is if you are sitting behind the visitors side line. The press box and home side is shaded. And if you think the parking at Levi's is bad, you should have seen Candlestick Park, the Niners old stadium lol.