drumlaw80

Well, a few years ago, whether or not DCA should expand outside of the Northeast was actually a bit of contentious discussion at the DCA annual meeting among the corps. True story, I was there. It all turned out to be a moot point, unfortunately.

Taking a look at the 2011 lineup of open class DCA corps -- It made me realize that it's a good thing that DCA expanded past the East Coast. Otherwise, there would only be five open class corps this year. In fact, the majority of DCA open class corps are from outside the East Coast now. Is this a first? Check it out - Alliance Buccaneers Bushwackers Caballeros CorpsVets Empire Statesmen Hurricanes Kilties Minnesota Brass Renegades Tampa Bay Thunder p.s. This post is not a criticism of anyone or anything. Just pointing out something that surprised me when I saw the list on the DCA website.

... nevermind

Wow. This is a shame.

"There needs to be a sense for every team that each year could be the year that ends with the hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy." - NBC Sports

I am very, very sorry to hear this, Fran. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Glassmen have the best poster. Runner up and winner of High General Effect "7" - Teal Sound.

Haven't checked in for a while, but nice to see that this thread at least triggered some discussion about the topic. We'll see what happens this year, and if there is any hope of a change of a competitive landscape for DCA in the near future.

DCI Trivia: The San Francisco Renegades were the first drum corps to ever legally utilize electronics in DCI competition, in 2000. True story.

If my math is correct, the last time "anybody" else won a DCA show that the Reading Buccaneers attended was September 4, 2004. John Kerry was trying to be President and the huge Pacific Tsumani had not yet happened. Competitive?

Sam Wrote: "Changing rules and such to allow someone else to win would not be fair or ethical...to Bucs, their fans, staff, other corps, and to the activity in general." You're missing the point, my friend. First of all, there is a history of DCA bylaws and other rules imposed that only affect one or two corps, so that element of the ethical analysis is not relevant here. The question is -- at what point does the Buccaneers continued winning hurt the marketing and growth of DCA? It's not about the Buccaneers - it's about the business and marketing growth of DCA. Second, please understand, DCA is not a competitive activity right now in regards to the overal winner - it's not even close. It's turned into an exhibition. We're not talking about a corps just winning a few titles in a row. This is many years of ZERO losses to anyone at any time, and a outcome that is more inherently predetermined before the show starts than we have ever seen in ANY competitive activity. At least the Seahawks went into the Saints game with some kind of chance to win, even if just a last second hail mary. Here, there has been no chance for a different outcome. If you think there is, you're kidding yourself. Again, this has been years we're talking about, not shows. The fans travel to DCA and every show the Bucs attend for the last few years knowing that the winner will be the Buccaneers and the victory concert is going to sound a lot like the Vanguard. Every single year, same thing. Over and over and over, repeat for years. What would happen to the NFL if the Saints went 16-0 for six or seven years? Logically, wouldn't fans who love the competitive aspect of football look to another sport for their competitive fix? Guess what -- it's already happening. Entertainment-wise, DCA is brilliant and fantastic. Competively speaking, DCA has either become the most boring competition game on the block or the most exciting professional wresting approach to music we've ever seen. I will say this -- if Reading's streak continues for more years - it will either kill or stagnate DCA ticket sales. There is no way to market an activity as being competitive if it is not. Just so it bears repeating - I am not bashing or against the Buccaneers at all. Not even 1%. I marched there in 1983 and gave them a business plan in 2003. But folks, please let's all look away from the trophy table for a second and think about what is really best for all of the corps in DCA. This ain't it. Disclaimer - I don't have all the answers. But, maybe it's time to start asking the questions, for the sake of all of the DCA drum corps. Just my .07 - no offense to anyone.

‎** My Immortal: The Vampire of Berlin, First Edition ** One-of-a-kind #77/77, numbered, dated and signed. All proceeds go to the San Francisco Renegades. Evil #77 on eBay 7

The following is the rule changes proposal that I would like to make at the next DCA Rules Congress - DCA Parity -- Rule Change Proposal Whereas, in the best business interests of Drum Corps Associates and all of its member corps, 1.1 Any DCA corps that has won three consecutive DCA Championships shall be declared a "DCA Grand Champion," and shall automatically be put into competitive-exhibition status for the following DCA World Championship. 1.2 Every DCA corps must allow and encourage its members to participate in I&E, and no corps is allowed to conduct an unrelated rehearsal or sectional on the I&E Performance Night. 7

This is the proposal that I would like to make at the next DCA Rules Congress: DCA Parity -- Rule Change Proposal Whereas, in the business interests of Drum Corps Associates and all of its member corps, 1.1 Any DCA corps that has won three consecutive DCA Championships shall be declared a "DCA Grand Champion," and shall automatically be put into competitive-exhibition status for the following DCA World Championship. 1.2 Every DCA corps must allow and encourage its members to participate in I&E, and no corps is allowed to conduct an unrelated rehearsal or sectional on the I&E Performance Night.

And nobody gets to say that my DCA Parity Proposal is invalid because it only affects one corps, as I have tried and failed many times to make that exact same argument at multiple DCA Rules Congress events.

This is the proposal that I would like to make at the next DCA Rules Congress: DCA Parity -- Rule Change Proposal Whereas, in the business interests of Drum Corps Associates and all of its member corps, 1.1 Any DCA corps that has won three consecutive DCA Championships shall be declared a "DCA Grand Champion," and shall automatically be put into competitive-exhibition status for the following DCA World Championship. 1.2 Every DCA corps must allow and encourage its members to participate in I&E, and no corps is allowed to conduct an unrelated rehearsal or sectional on the I&E Performance Night.

Lots of people talking about how a winning corps deserves to win etc., but no one really answers the question -- what do you do if a one corps keeps winning and winning for many years and the DCA fan base keeps shrinking due to the lack of competition. Do we sit back in the name of "fair competition" and allow our activity to decline and hope that someone else eventually wins? Or is there something else that can be done to somehow introduce competitive parity in DCA, as the NFL has done more-or-less. Frankly, I believe that if the current no-competitive state exists for another few years, The DCA Championships are done as a competitive activity from a marketing standpoint. Arguably, this is the case now. Going into any one of the last five DCA Weekends, did anyone believe that any another DCA corps could have possibly won any of the last 5 DCA Finals? Maybe a few of you did, but you are in the minority ... I sure did not. I thought there was zero chance, in fact. And again, I am not slamming the Reading Buccaneers -- I proudly marched with them, and was a business and marketing consultant for them in 2004, right before all this started. If using the Bucs as the example is too emotionally-charged, imagine the same scenario in the NFL, with the Steelers winning a decade of Super Bowls in a row, and the television audience declining fast. What does one do?

Here's where the discussion gets fun -- what would the leadership of Major League Baseball do if the Yankees won the next 23 World Series in a row? Interesting business issue, no?

Let me ask a hypothetical follow-up question -- Let's say, for sake of argument, the Reading Buccaneers are good and stable enough so they can go without losing a single show in DCA for the next 35 years. Now, if in this hypothetical scenario, the fan attendance of DCA Finals and other shows keep dropping as those years go by due to the perceived lack of competitition in a DCA event, at what point "must" DCA do something about it to save the circuit? Or are we all ethically obligated by principles of fairness to sit back and watch it continue to erode? Please understand, I am not bashing the Buccaneers, they deserve and earned every bit of success they have. But in terms of the business development of a drum corps circuit (or any sport whatsoever), isn't a monopoly bad for everyone in the long term, including the monopolist?

I respectfully think that having the same corps win the title year after year after year is not a good result for marketing any competitive "world championship" event to the general public. Please understand, I'm not saying the Bucaneers' recent consecutive DCA titles were not well-deserved, they certainly were. But from an overall DCA/drum corps activity-marketing aspect, some semblance of competitive parity is much healthier and better for any competitive league as a whole. Similarly, the worst thing that could possibly happen for the NFL is for the Steelers, for example, to win the next eight Super Bowls ... the viewership and fans would simply begin to die off. Have we begun to see that decline a little bit in the attendance of DCA? If so, do you think the fact that there has literally been no question as to who was going to win DCA in 6 years had anything to do with it? Please understand, I am not bashing one corps -- just taking a look at the overal aspects of our marketing, and how out activity not being "competitive" in terms of a champion over the course of multiple seasons could potentially harm the growth of DCA. The obvious problem with drum corps is "how" does one achieve competitive parity and make your circuit truly "competitive" so you can keep the fans interested without a staff/member draft or some other form of control over the product of the activity. Some marching band circuits accomplish this by not allowing a repeat champion in consecutive years. That wouldn't work in DCA, and I am not sure what else would. But, food for thought ... this extreme lack of parity, IMO, is potentially damaging to our activity in terms of growth of the fan base. Any other ideas how one might achieve parity without blatantly coming up with another new rule that only affects one corps?

Having the same corps win year after year after year is certainly not a good result for marketing a competitive "world championship" event to the general public. Please understand, I'm not saying those titles were not well-deserved .... but from an overall drum corps activity-marketing aspect, some semblance of competitive parity is much healthier and better for the drum corps acitivty as a whole. Similarly, the worst thing that could possibly happen for the NFL is for the Steelers, for example, to win the next eight Super Bowls ... the viewership and fans would begin to die off. The obvious problem with drum corps is "how" does one achieve parity without a draft or some other form of control over the product of the activity. Some marching band circuits accomplish this by not allowing a repeat champion in consecutive years. That wouldn't work in DCA, and I am not sure what else would. But, food for thought ... this extreme lack of parity, IMO, is damging to our activity in terms of growth of the fan base.

Drum corps + anything remotely related to a choir = odd.

Even though it did not win, 1987 Vanguard is certainly in the running for most effective and famous drum corps show ever. 7

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Tale of a Drum Line: The 1993 Santa Clara Vanguard Edition 7 With new content and a foreward by Scott Johnson! *** Coming Soon **** 7