I think you may be on to something....I am a firm believer that Drum Corps did itself a big diservice by abandoning the regional circuits back in the day. I could talk for days as to why but will spare you that rant right now. The main thing at this point is the growth of the activity. To address its survival, I firmly believe you need to approach it from an idea of growth. FACT....Open Class shows have difficulty drawing large enough crowds to sustain the class and if you want to foster the growth of the activity, the growth/survival of open class corps is vital. So by including them in World Class events you expose their exsistance to people who might otherwise never know about them and make the activity more meaningful for those corps/kids.....Like I said, I could go on about this for days, but for now I'll just leave it at that.