BIG Idea for BIG Stadium Line of Thought

[silvertrombone]

So we do 60 or so shows in NCAA and NFL stadiums instead of 120 in iddy biddy HS stadiums, right?

Marketing to band-O's is our goal, right? Or at least one of them. So, any school band program that sells 100 tickets to their local/regional show or whatever you call it, gets some goody. Maybe free refreshments. Or free t-shirt for each member. Or autograph session with corps members. Or just simply GIVE the band an extra 10 tickets FREE! Not like you'd run out of seats, right? Heck, if you have to, start bumping them out to the end zones...wouldn't that be fun? 30,000 total attendance for a Thursday night "local" show. Don't laugh. You'd be surprised what a band kid will do for a free t-shirt! And autograph sessions? Great way for current members to hype it up to future members. "March anywhere you can! If you don't make Cavies or Cadets, go march Blue Stars or Spirit." And so on.

Cool prizes for the band that sells the most tickets. Dallas does something like that.

Get some cool little photo scrapbook with pictures of every corps as a commemorative give-away. Whatever.

More butts in the stands. More revenue. Fewer performances. And I'm just sure all of you who will be marching this year are just itching for that photo opportunity and autograph session thingy!

Thoughts??

[Littlehendrix]

well, it's a nice idea, but idk how that could actually work out, what happens when all the small local shows that people look forward to seeing disappear? Then that support goes away, but it might, I'm not sure i completely understand you propostition anyways...

[nothingbetter]

I like the idea a lot, but you'd come up with problems on how people would get there

since the "target" is generally high school bandos you have to figure that only about half of them drive, and the fact that their parents essentially still control what they do. Because of the restrictions that they are placed under, travel is a large issue.

Rather than allowing them to go to a show which is in most cases less than 20 min away, they would have to go to the nearest big stadium, which could mean twice the travel time, and twice the issues.If more support from the local band programs were encouraged, such as providing transportation, this is a fabulous idea.

[The Other Mike]

So we do 60 or so shows in NCAA and NFL stadiums instead of 120 in iddy biddy HS stadiums, right?

Marketing to band-O's is our goal, right? Or at least one of them. So, any school band program that sells 100 tickets to their local/regional show or whatever you call it, gets some goody. Maybe free refreshments. Or free t-shirt for each member. Or autograph session with corps members. Or just simply GIVE the band an extra 10 tickets FREE! Not like you'd run out of seats, right? Heck, if you have to, start bumping them out to the end zones...wouldn't that be fun? 30,000 total attendance for a Thursday night "local" show. Don't laugh. You'd be surprised what a band kid will do for a free t-shirt! And autograph sessions? Great way for current members to hype it up to future members. "March anywhere you can! If you don't make Cavies or Cadets, go march Blue Stars or Spirit." And so on.

Cool prizes for the band that sells the most tickets. Dallas does something like that.

Get some cool little photo scrapbook with pictures of every corps as a commemorative give-away. Whatever.

More butts in the stands. More revenue. Fewer performances. And I'm just sure all of you who will be marching this year are just itching for that photo opportunity and autograph session thingy!

Thoughts??

Thoughts ?

Sorry, you caught me in a bad mode I guess so here ya go:

For someone who uses the screen name "silvertrombone" to be using the term "band-O" sorta hits me strange. Do you actually march with a bugle in G or is it a multi key BAND instrument ? Exactly WHO is the band-O ?

As someone who marched, instructed, drove the truck, drove the bus, taught both drill and horns and did my term in corps management, I find your use of the term band-O offensive since I've been a band director for 30 years.

I support drum corps almost anyway I can and I have students that march corps...............oops, summer honor marching band.

Just who is expected to be impressed by the scrapbook with autographs ? Who exactly is supposed to be impressed with winning a free Tee shirt ? Who is supposed to be in charge of keeping count of who sold how many tickets ?

Is the show sponsor going to send out a sheet to every "band-O" to purchase their ticket and keep track of what school they are from ?

When My band does a parade I get $2000 minimum. THAT Impresses me. That helps my budget.

But somehow you seem to believe that now I should go through the expense of having to charter buses, gather money for tickets and travel to a stadium much further away just to see drum corps ?

No thank you.

We will be happy to stay home and host the corps that have used my school as a place to sleep and practice for the last 30 years. My kids get much more from watching a practice then from a performance.

Sorry if your feelings are hurt, but those are my thoughts, ands thats what you asked for.

If you want more people in the stands, be more entertaining. Make the fans feel goosebumps, MOVE the fans. If your corps doesn't get at leat 4 or 5 standing O's during your show, find a corps that does.

[bawker]

"Mom and Pop" shows attract the casual fan.

Take that away, and start making every show ULTRA MEGA SHOWDOWN with expensive seats, huge stadiums and the like only does one thing...cannibalize the market you already have.

How many shows do you think little Timmy can go to with only limited disposable income? Not many, if you price him out of the market with only a ULTRA MEGA SHOWDOWN nearby...versus 3-4 smaller shows, maybe one with a master class, another where he watches the lot, and so on.

Also, factor in that (as stated above) not everyone wants to bus kids in, chaperon them and take up an entire day/night with the process. Quite frankly, most of the "band kids" I've seen at a lot of shows are kind of unruly and look at it as a chance to say either "our band can do that" to their buddies....or to use the event as a social one, talking over most of the smaller corps. Some don't...but there's a lot who do.

Finally, most people in larger, urban environs are sold on the arts already...and, if drum corps wants to lay claim to the "music education" mantra, they sure as hell should go places that need that kind of exposure to a positive youth activity.

If you play only the big stadiums, and cut Clovis M. Fuddbutter from Chacaktookee County, Mississippi out of the picture...cater only to those who you see before you right now, and forget about ever trying to expand your base beyond a fickle youth segment...

...just watch your product stagnate as a result.

[oldtimedrummer]

So we do 60 or so shows in NCAA and NFL stadiums instead of 120 in iddy biddy HS stadiums, right?

Marketing to band-O's is our goal, right? Or at least one of them. So, any school band program that sells 100 tickets to their local/regional show or whatever you call it, gets some goody. Maybe free refreshments. Or free t-shirt for each member. Or autograph session with corps members. Or just simply GIVE the band an extra 10 tickets FREE! Not like you'd run out of seats, right? Heck, if you have to, start bumping them out to the end zones...wouldn't that be fun? 30,000 total attendance for a Thursday night "local" show. Don't laugh. You'd be surprised what a band kid will do for a free t-shirt! And autograph sessions? Great way for current members to hype it up to future members. "March anywhere you can! If you don't make Cavies or Cadets, go march Blue Stars or Spirit." And so on.

Cool prizes for the band that sells the most tickets. Dallas does something like that.

Get some cool little photo scrapbook with pictures of every corps as a commemorative give-away. Whatever.

More butts in the stands. More revenue. Fewer performances. And I'm just sure all of you who will be marching this year are just itching for that photo opportunity and autograph session thingy!

Thoughts??

How about a Hopkins or Gibbs bobblehead night?

Edited November 22, 2007 by oldtimedrummer

[HoltonH178]

Hm. I feel like most of the posts in this thread have been made by negative people with pre-existing negative opinions of the poster, and thus, his (notably substantive and forward-thinking) post...whatever...maybe this is why almost no one in drum corps respects DCP. But I digress.

I personally think this is a great idea. DCI is supposed to be the bigtime, right? Then the shows need to be bigtime. I hated performing at those shows with 2,000 uninterested people who sat on their hands all night.

If DCI is marketing potential membership (which it should be--this is the root of our activity and it will make it grow now and forever), I can't imagine anything better than the shows always being in major stadiums with major audiences. That alone will attract more kids, and thus more volunteers, more people coming out to shows, etc. ... so I see this as a step in the right direction.

How to do that? Maybe when I have a little more time, hehe...

[silvertrombone]

Wow...tough crowd. Mike, look at my profile. I think I have my particulars listed there. Just cuz I've done something musical since my DC days doesn't mean I'm going to use "SUTA" in my screen name the rest of my life.

However, I frequently use the serial # from my DEG (G) for codes, sign-in's, etc. Geek that I am. And band-O to me is a term of endearment...I refer to myself pretty often from my pre-corps days as "King Band-O." I was.

Buses...yes. Dallas has more school buses coming in than corps buses. Can't be that hard getting buses from the bus barn. Or terribly expensive. Actually, try convincing me that it is more time consuming to book a couple or several buses than putting on a show...or hosting a corps. There are a whole mess of band directors who take their kids to these shows as enrichment or whatever. And, yes, to many of them it's just time away from M&D, or time in the back seat of the bus, or an opportunity to talk...I've sat near them, too. But if the only reason you do something is for the money or convenience of it being at your school (which I'm sure it's not, Mike), then I would have to say, sorry, there are literally thousands of other directors out there who would gladly bus their kids to the Cotton Bowl instead of Mesquite Memorial Stadium, or fill in the blanks for your locale. I'm proposing change, I realize. And I also realize how much we humans like change...I'm one of you, remember.

And here's another point that comes to mind...do fans come to shows to see the corps...or to go to Homer B. Fuddbutter stadium? I mean, Ratcliffe (sp?) Stadium in Odessa, TX is home to the Odessa Permian HS football team. 6 or so state championships. Big-time place. I don't care! Not my school, not my team. Go see a show there? No thanks. If that's the only show within driving distance? Well, maybe. But not because of the stadium. I've gone to the Alamodome the last two years, but not b/c it's in the Alamodome. Ugh. Too cold. Reverb. But all of the corps are there, and I haven't been able to get to finals in recent memory, so San Antone it is.

Anyone who thinks that a crowd won't go see corps b/c of the stadium its in check your logic. Rose Bowl didn't seem to hurt attendance. Neither did Mile High or Foxboro. Now, maybe we cut down on the number of shows in any particular region in favor of one at the BIG house (locally). Boston area, if memory serves correctly, has a pretty good number of shows. Warranted in that area due to the love for DC. Madison region, too. But only so many corps to go around can only make it around so far. And I would say that demand outpaces supply at this point. Several of you seem to be hanging on pretty tight to the idea of "your" local shows. Sorry, I have to take a step back and ask, "Is the idea of 'local shows' going to GROW DCI or STUNT its growth?" Now, we can each have our own opinions on that and argue/discuss those all day. But I maintain that bigger stadiums is the way to go.

And here's one more point, I think I've made somewhere else before, that I'd like to hear counterarguments to. I would put forward that if DCI is performing in NCAA and NFL stadiums almost exclusively, DCI and the corps take a leap forward in prestige, recognition, etc, even to the point that potential corporate partners take note when DCI comes knocking. "Oh, the BIG stadium DCI--yeah, thanks for calling us!" Instead of, "DCI? Yeah, you guys perform in HS stadiums, don't you?"

Again, we're talking about a scarce resource in the number of corps, and this whole topic sprouted forth from the idea that there aren't enough corps available to fill enough shows that every single local show from the 1970's when there were 400 corps can maintain "their" little local show! Sorry. Not my decision that 300+ corps aren't around any longer.

Think NFL, guys. Not my stadium argument but actual NFL football, now. Where are the franchises located? Yeah, yeah...Green Bay...little bitty population that it has...exception. Yeah, yeah...LA...no franchise...2nd biggest market in America. The franchises are, in general, located in the BIG markets, and they've got BIG stadiums as a result. If they played in some rural area or mid-major market, it might be a bit different. The NFL goes where the money is, and in general, that's where the population is. DCI needs to think about their touring model, alright. But I have no problem with national tours...did them twice, little problem. But national tours and local shows are kind of contradictory, and that's my point.

That, and if you put it in high-box stadiums, you can record it and broadcast it on the web, or at least make it available for download. Harder to do in a HS stadium with lower box (due to smaller capacity) and crosswinds (due to open ended designs). Don't think open stadiums is a problem? Should have heard Cadets at Dallas last summer...Hop running down aisle telling the board operator to "yank it!" when one of the mic's was picking up nice, strong Dallas crosswind. Didn't have that issue in Alamodome couple nights later. Yeah, yeah...indoors...didn't stop DCI from doing mid-season DVD in Atlanta.

Make mine a Dan Farrell bobblehead and I'm in! Would Hop's be in all black and bowing? :P Uniform bobbleheads...there's another idea!

And Mike, the corps can still use your HS to rehearse.

[IllianaLancerContra]

So we do 60 or so shows in NCAA and NFL stadiums instead of 120 in iddy biddy HS stadiums, right?

Marketing to band-O's is our goal, right? Or at least one of them. So, any school band program that sells 100 tickets to their local/regional show or whatever you call it, gets some goody. Maybe free refreshments. Or free t-shirt for each member. Or autograph session with corps members. Or just simply GIVE the band an extra 10 tickets FREE! Not like you'd run out of seats, right? Heck, if you have to, start bumping them out to the end zones...wouldn't that be fun? 30,000 total attendance for a Thursday night "local" show. Don't laugh. You'd be surprised what a band kid will do for a free t-shirt! And autograph sessions? Great way for current members to hype it up to future members. "March anywhere you can! If you don't make Cavies or Cadets, go march Blue Stars or Spirit." And so on.

Cool prizes for the band that sells the most tickets. Dallas does something like that.

Get some cool little photo scrapbook with pictures of every corps as a commemorative give-away. Whatever.

More butts in the stands. More revenue. Fewer performances. And I'm just sure all of you who will be marching this year are just itching for that photo opportunity and autograph session thingy!

Thoughts??

Might be a good idea. The real question turns on your first statement- What is the goal these days?

[silvertrombone]

Might be a good idea. The real question turns on your first statement- What is the goal these days?

That's a great point! I was actually just reading one of Holton's points in the Hop vs Stewie thread and had kind of the same idea. If we're (meaning DCI) trying to head the direction of MBI, then some of my points are kind of irrelevent. If the point is to maintain the old 1970's fan base, well, then Phantom Regiment will eventually die or move, one or the other, cuz there ain't nobody being produced from Rockford these days! Same in Rosemont, someone else said a while back?? Course, they have Chicago right next door, too.