I am not sure what happens next. Split? No split? I have no idea.
What I do know is that SOMETHING has to drastically change for the activity we all love to keep going. Costs are out of control, and there HAS to be some outside of the box thinking or it will soon be lights out for everyone. Not one, but SEVERAL corps folded last summer while on tour. And it's looking like it will be a challenge for the Glassmen to field a corps next year. That's not good, folks.
Since the number of corps keeps getting fewer, I imagine that in the future, drum corps will be a lot like... NASCAR. There will be a single caravan of corps traveling from show to show. There will only be enough corps for one show a night. The mighty will survive and the smaller corps without diverse revenue streams will die.
And if the corps were smart, they would travel in pairs, share housing sites, and do everything in their power to split the costs. Perhaps they could share the use of a SINGLE food truck, thereby taking a rig off the road. And instead of yet another tractor trailer for equipment, why don't they have smaller equipment trailers towed behind each bus? I imagine taking an 18 wheeler off the road will save a TON of money.
Perhaps the "big corps" are in a huge power grab. Or maybe they are working to reinvent themselves so they can simply survive (and some form of the activity can continue).
Only time will tell.