Galen

That's in Sandusky, about 3 hours away. Kings Island would be closer.

Official seating is 10K, got new turf and track a couple years ago as well as a new pressbox. It's not terrible as far as stadiums go, certainly has a higher capacity than Marion or Michigan City, but I certainly wouldn't want one of those seats right next to the pressbox and I have no idea what their amenities/concessions are like. Parking-wise it shares the same lot as the UD Arena so there's plenty of parking and it's about a quarter of a mile pushed back from I-75 so highway noise shouldn't be too much of an issue, but getting on and off the freeway coming in and out of the stadium might be a little congested as there's only one exit in the immediate vicinity. Honestly I think it's a good pick, and I think it would behoove DCI to split the gate with Centerville's band boosters association this year seeing as they screwed them out of hosting their own show for the first time in like 40 years or so.

Definitely agree that subtitles would have been helpful. I'm not familiar with any of BB's music and don't know a lick of Spanish, so those would have certainly helped me connect more with the performance as a first-time viewer. If they can do it at every modern opera house for any classical opera being put on nowadays, they could certainly have done it for the Super Bowl. Plus it would have likely helped soothe at least some of the white fragility that's been on display in our society over this topic.

I'd agree with you on that point. I didn't see the show live but watched a recording from the perspective of someone in the stands and had a very hard time following along and finding what to be focusing on.

So, it's February and still nothing announced?

And they'll get a QB that throws for 4K+ yards in a season before that ever happens 😄

Such a stupid idea that will never happen. The whole process has been a mess with them try to pit every suburb in Cook County against each other to see who will give them the biggest tax breaks.

That sucks 😞

That would be some nice compensation for that show's organizers. What happened that they're leaving Marion?

Ideally yes because that means an out-of-court settlement.

As if they're entitled to win every year or something- or as if there aren't other things actually worth getting upset about besides where what place a given drum corps finishes.

Haven't really been excited about drum corps for the last 8-10 years or so TBH, for a variety of reasons. Late start and shorter season certainly hasn't helped.

Welcome to DCI circa the last 20 years or so.

Sorry to hear. I remember him from my junior corps days. Heck of a guy.

You'd be surprised how many attorneys still use Gmail addresses- or worse, Yahoo or AOL addresses. I deal with plenty in my line of work and I have to stifle a laugh when I hear any of those three addresses mentioned.

How does Stanford still measure up?

It does, and they're not.

I mean, Bloomington's still a nice town and all...

You'd think if the show organizers could afford to book a major college football stadium, they could cover a panel of judges.

No, that gets determined at the Januals 😄

Early-season scores have about as much meaning as the points on Whose Line Is It Anyways?

Finally have a replacement site for the Avon Lake show, in Brunswick about 45 minutes south.

I wanna say the stadium itself is at least 10 years old if not older. Track looks like it's been redone in the last 2-3 years. Jackson Liberty is still a grass field as far as I'm aware. Up north there are some venues that are more modernized (Woodbridge and PCTI in Wayne were common DCA shows for several years) and a lot of older places with a lot of history, some of which have been kept up and some of which haven't; Clifton, Passaic, Asbury Park to name a few, along with Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson, which recently got a wonderful renovation finished up after sitting abandoned for more than 2 decades, but almost all of them have the same problem of being small and/or crammed into high-density areas that don't offer sufficient parking/warmup amenities for corps to use. The Mt. Olive stadium, Newark PS' stadium and the rooftop stadium in Union probably take the cake as some of the top venues in the upper half of the state. Bayonne will always have that special Bridgemen connection but even that looks a bit cramped overall. Central-wise, Toms River has some decent fields and Monmouth's Kessler Stadium would be a fantastic location if they had lights. Southwise, it's pretty slim pickings. Barnegat's got a nice place, Gittone Stadium in Vineland saw a good renovation a few years back and Carey Stadium in Ocean City is an absolutely gorgeous setting that's a stone's throw from the beach, even if it is completely impractical for a corps show. In general, there are very few, if any, "state of the art venues" anywhere in the state, and nobody seems to be going out of their way to build anything special anytime soon.

Also, the Rochester show is apparently now back in Rochester, at Paetec Park (or whatever it's known as these days)

The replacement venue for the NJ show has been announced at Egg Harbor HS (just outside Atlantic City), and it's a nice one as far as HS stadiums go: https://www.dci.org/events/2024-dci-glassboro