ContraFart

Arent all non profits based on other peoples money? Thats why they become 501c3 organizations in the first place. I dont have all of the answers, if I did I would be the new DCI CEO, but I do know that focusing on the most polarizing part of the activity as the center of the problem is not the anser.

Some corps are doing it. Colts, BD, Music City, Bluecoats, BAC all operate in the black. All on different backbones but they still are well run.

Again I say not every situation is the same. SCV was an organizational bleep show who lost compliance with the state and did not get their second bingo running. Ya maybe they made a mistake by bringing 2 corps out in 2022, but if they do come back as planned in 2024, their not touring in 2023 WAS the smart scale back. We still do not know the details of what happened with the Cadets, only speculation and rumors. Maybe there was a huge mistake made that cost them a lot of money, we do not know. As far as the corps trying to win at all costs. Music City had one of the largest staffs by number and tons of props. They had they same electronic rig as everyone else. They had brand new uniforms (again why people bring that up as a cost factor is beyond me because they are part of corps fees) and I think one of the longer tours. (I could be wrong on that). Are they trying to win at all costs? Or do those costs not add up to as much as people make them out to be?

Starbucks is a publicly traded company beholden to its shareholders. They have a fiduciary responsibility to cut the 2.6% to get maximum return. But they are already operating at a profit. If you think that there is nothing corps can do to increase revenue, then we have already lost the war and should just wait for the activity to die.

but what would those cuts really do other than hurt the product? You shave 3% off the cost, but do nothing to enhance revenue? This entire argument is based on the wrong premise.

So winning means everything to corps like Music city who had a ton of props? You can look at corps like Crossmen and Madison who had scaled down props that I do not believe needed an extra truck. I think corps are smart enough to know when to scale down

I agree that not every group is a monolith, but you can readily predict that whenever finances are brought up, props and electronics being the largest problem is always the focus of the conversation and much of that is driven by a distaste for them from a certain portion of the population.

Again I will say like a broken record that those who look at props and electronics as the problem are blaming the smallest line item on the budget. New uniforms are a negligible cost and are sometimes even incorporated into member fees. I dont even think Cadets had to pay Stanbury for their uniforms last year. Instruments are purchased at wholesale and can even be sold for a small profit. Staffs are huge in number, but they are changed in and out all summer and there at most 15-20 staff on tour at any given time. Staffs do not tour all summer like they used to. I think we need to realize that no 2 situations are exactly the same. Yes the costs of tour are high, but that does not mean the model is unsustainable. It means that the corps need to rethink the revenue model of the activity. There is no silver bullet.

am I wrong? My money is on no because electronics and props is always the first thing attacked by the dinos when financial issues are the focus.

Why does this conversation always devolve into issues about cost, and revenue is ignored? Bob Cook tried to give this lesson 40 years ago and he was ignored. There needs to be innovation in the revenue model.

Again you are taking the smallest line item in the budget and saying it's the biggest problem, when the real issue is that you just don't like props and electronics and think that drum corps should be what it was 40 years ago.

That 2.6% includes rights fees and other ancillary costs. You are complaining about the smallest line item in the budget being the biggest problem.

The costly changes to drum corps have nothing to do with props or electronics. They have everything to do with more choices for summer activities which makes local groups less attainable.

Substantial????? You mean 2.6% of the total budget and less than 10% of the fuel budget?

Everything has a cost. Are you saying that the corps have no agency to know that an extra truck is going to add x amount to tour costs?

So SOA performs by themselves all summer? Troopers too? You can't have a regional model with only one corps in a region.

You would think maybe if the difference between going on tour and folding is one tractor trailer, they would scale down their design so it's not needed.

How does that happen? Off the top of my head there are only 3 states with more than one drum corps. So we create 100 local corps out of thin air?

How do you stay local without shows where you can perform?

First of all it's not just one issue. You can start with food and fuel costs, especially with inflation hitting food costs most. Then there is housing which has skyrocketed because you have to pay big bucks to even use a high school and there needs to be a reserve for hotels. Then there is the number of shows going down which makes some corps have to travel more and get fewer show pay outs (which were small anyways) You can't go regional because you don't have the number of corps or the show venues. So you have to work with the national tour. We are dealing with a very complicated issue that does not boil down to the costs of electronics and props which is less than 3% of operating costs.

That's because your are smart and reasonable, the clowns on Facebook and Reddit are not.

Everything adds cost, but in perspective, how much is that cost? Using the SOA numbers, it's not much in the grand scheme

Sometimes you need to tell the vocal minority to shut up. Their #####ing brings nothing to the table. The activity was going to evolve with or without them. In the past 12 hours I think I have seen at least 4 dozen comments on social media on how props and electronics are the reason why corps fold and that is just brain dead wrong. If you want to have a serious conversation about the activity, at least understand the issue.

Now it's just going to be brain dead takes on why electronics and props are the ruin of drum corps.

Didnt Boerma arrange 2023?