Should Open Class just be World Class?

[afd]

With the announcement that Music City just joined WC status what is the future of Open Class? It just seems to be only a two way race btw SC Cadets and BDB in Open. Nobody other than those two seem to be a real threat to an Open Class title. Or do those two just trade off from year after year?

Edited October 4, 2017 by afd

[Lance]

each corps has its own eccentricities when it comes to management, touring schedule, fundraising, goals, etc

i'm not sure they'd all want to get rid of open class

more to it than who wins

[BRASSO]

56 minutes ago, Lance said:

each corps has its own eccentricities when it comes to management, touring schedule, fundraising, goals, etc

 

 Same is true with Corps in the World Class Division too... haha

[Stu]

There are two ways I have looked at this: 1) BDB and SCVC should be placed in WC due to their financial stability and competitive prowess; ie they are way too good to be in OC; or 2) if an OC corps can hang competitively with BDB and SCVC while being financially stable, that is a litmus test in which the corps is ready for WC. At this juncture I lean toward number two.

[lowend]

To play devils advocate, how many corps would still be around if they had lived within their means and stayed in DII?  Success by a couple of top corps doesn't mean that they should move up -- just that the other DII corps should get better or accept their place in the pecking order.

[MikeN]

Depends on what you think Open Class is there for.  If all you see is between the yardlines, then you see little value, considering they don't score well against World Class corps.  If you look beyond that, then the value is evident.

(And while I think BD/VC's monopoly on the top 2 is ultimately bad for Open Class, I certainly don't think it's bad enough to warrant any changes to the system.  At some point, someone will just have to beat them on the field.)

Mike

[BigW]

The class is designed for smaller corps with less experienced personnel, and limited budgets. The expectations and rubrics on the sheets are clearly different. From what I've seen of the Open Class Corps the different rubrics fit the class extremely well.

 

Maybe the proper question is actually this:

 

Should there be a means in place to forcibly promote an open class corps if they demonstrate they are capable of competing at the world class level? And by what means should it be?

[xandandl]

no.

I vote for a return to Div. !, Div. 2, and Div. 3.

[Kamarag]

1 hour ago, xandandl said:

no.

I vote for a return to Div. !, Div. 2, and Div. 3.

 

Interestingly, the Open Class directors would disagree with you.

[Stu]

21 minutes ago, Kamarag said:

 

Interestingly, the Open Class directors would disagree with you.

Interestingly... the WC voting body only gave the Div II III corps the options to either combine into one OC or lose DCI show support. Of course they chose one OC. Same thing applies to the now lack of OC show payouts; the WC voting body gave the OC the options of voting to eliminate their own payouts or risk losing DCI services.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Stu