cybersnyder

I'll probably get banned for this, but in all honesty, I think WGI's model is going to win. We love the the "Is it live or is it Memorex?" effect of a large corps, but you can get close to that indoors with smaller ensembles. Rhythm X's fees, for example, are $1500 for the year. Stuff a single charter bus to capacity, maybe a rented equipment truck, keep it more regional and shorter tours. It has built-in a lot of the limitations and effective spending caps to make things more competitive - eve if you spend twice as much as another ensemble - what would you spend it on? 150 people dancing on an outdoor field or 50 people dancing on a basketball court. Is there a huge difference?

And in true "Where's Waldo?" fashion, I spotted the sousa on the 37 hash farthest from us on the left wearing shorts. I wonder if he is a football player that doubles on sousa?

When you start paying members, sure.

At least as far as DCI is concerned. But that argument is academic, a staff "draft" will never happen.

Spending cap and a draft for staff? The money isn't big enough to change where staff wants to go, so that would never happen. They will go where they want to go or drop out completely. Which is a bigger factor? Staff or money?

Texas doesn't mess around when it comes to stadiums. There are even higher priced stadiums. For high school.

https://mnbrass.org/2019/05/minnesota-brass-returns-to-soundsport-in-2019/

Would you want to be that person? Heh.

I'm still trying to figure out who the customer is, usually it's the people that are paying. So, the fans in the stands? The members? The donors? All of the above?

I would hope that they exchanged prelim tickets for finals tickets.

I’ve been trying to come up with an idea for improving the finances and I think I’ve hit a brick wall. I think the key to running a successful non profit is - a large endowment. That way you can plan strategically instead of just breaking even until next season. Know any sugar daddies / mamas?

Agreed.

This is certainly true when I look at an upcoming show. I want to know who is performing and that really means who are the last 2-3 corps on the field.

Not sure how you ever get the "big boys" to vote for less money for themselves. Corps need to improve from within. Carolina Crown was a less than stellar corps at one time, but they improved themselves incrementally.

Redskins dropped their stadium seating capacity to avoid blackouts.

With MLB, attendance isn't such a big deal. They make a lot more from television rights.

Ok, bad idea, but I think there is probably more opportunity to raise funds creatively than there is to cut costs - both should be evaluated. I'll continue brainstorming.

If the scoring system were different for those shows, the shows would have been different.

Turn it into at least a partial money making opportunity. Bring your high school marching band to train with the Cadets or whoever for a day. Hell, I'd probably pay $1000 to sit in the center of the BD warmup circle.

In theory....

I've been thinking about the topic of evolving the business model and I'm wondering if there really is much to cut on the expense side other than making tours shorter. And is there really a need to cut costs? There doesn't seem to be a shortage of people signing contracts for the season. In my opinion, GoFundMe has made higher costs more palatable. You may not raise enough from family and friends to pay the entire year, but you can get enough to bring it back down to reasonable levels. So I was thinking that the evolution needs to happen on the fundraising side, but maybe, via GoFundMe, that evolution has already happened. The best way to raise money is to ask for it. I would be more willing to give Becky $100 who is going to Blue Devils than to send $100 directly to Blue Devils.

I think that would be a quick double digit hit to attendance. When checking out competitions in the area don't you look at the big names that are attending? I know that probably wouldn't apply to finals. But let's say I'm BD and I won two years in a row and now have to sit out this year. Fine, I'll just put out a "nice" show this year and save more money for an even bigger show next year. Of course, I don't think a sit out a year rule would ever pass but just for sake of discussion...

Sure, and those would be added into the equation, but just trying to point out that if you were to increase corps size by, say 20 members and that resulted in needing another bus, it's very likely that your per member transportation costs could increase rather than decrease.

They're probably fine with that. At my local Merriweather Post Pavillion, a show with 6,000 attendance is considered a failure.

Just saying that it's a known risk. Can't be upset when it happens and if there is no alternative in the area, then it's not s good area to hold the event.