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Stadiums for Finals: Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow


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"The Rose Bowl"

Those words evoke visions of grandeur, of history, of champions being born. Yes, the setting in Arroyo Seco is beautiful, and the lore is alluring, but alas, it is all an illusion.

The only thing the Rose Bowl is good for is New Year's Day aerial shots from the blimp when it is jammed with football fans. Being jammed in there on the old bench seats was bad enough, but the 1982 addition of seat-backs effectively eliminated all leg room and pass-through room.

DCI should have known the Rose Bowl was no place to hold this great event after the post-season Tour of Champions in 2004. I was there and I was not happy with the experience. One of the worst aspects is that most of the corps' housing and practice sites are farther away than they may appear on the map if you consider the clogged roads getting to Pasadena. The stadium itself, in spite of renovations over the years, is hopelessly antiquated. The too-few and too-long tunnels in and out of the stands surely weren't meant to be conduits for human beings. They become as jammed up as the SoCal freeway system. Once you are in your seat, if you are in the middle of a row (The Rose Bowl must hold the Guinness Record for the longest rows of seats in the world) you better be catheterized because you ain't going nowhere! A two-and-a-half hour football game can be endured, but seven hours of drum corps? Then there is the buzzing of the lights. It is more than an annoying distraction between performances. It can ruin a ballad or a solo. It was even a constant annoyance during the quarterfinals program at the movie theater I attended. Drum Corps gives us some of the best sound in the world. The buzzing lights alone should have been a deal breaker for this venue. The list goes on, but I won't elaborate.

Even though it looks like DCI finals will be in a wonderful new facility in Indianapolis for a long time to come, I am reminded of my favorite stadium ever for DCI finals: Arrowhead in Kansas City in 1988 and 1989. The stadium remains a favorite of NFL players and broadcasters 35 years after it opened. What they didn't know when they built it was that they were building a perfect concert hall for DCI. The sound and the viewing angles are fantastic. I have often thought that Arrowhead's great acoustics added to the beauty of SCV's legendary "Phantom of the Opera." Kansas City is the geographical center of the country. The parking lot is huge. It is big enough for all the fans AND all the corps, too. Located at the intersection of two freeways, there is no easier access anywhere. I remember DCI finals logistical nightmares like Orlando and College Park, and I wonder how much research DCI did or if they even cared about the people who had to find ways into those places to support the activity. An arrangement that makes sense to me from a life-isn't-fair-but-let's-compromise standpoint, is to alternate between Indy and Denver. Two great stadiums, one city quasi-east, one city quasi-west.

Ah, if only the world were perfect and I got to make all the important decisions about my favorite diversion.

Chris

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