Help Phantom!

[gottalovit]

Thanks for being shortsighted. It's really helpful.

The management and BoD of this corps for most of the 1990s was dreadful. No...DREADFUL. All of the less than talented people are gone and any quality folks have remained and have been elevated to more leadership positions.

Regiment's real tour or not tour (go Inactive) time period was late 90s/early this decade. Through careful management since, they have avoided the slippery slope of going inactive.

Processes are in place so that this corps has a great opportunity NEVER to see those days again. For instance, all programs are now dollar neutral. So, if the drum line is going to be a performing and competing ensemble, they MUST at least break even, so must the Guard workshops and the Winterguard. If not, they do not exist.

This organization is night and day compared to the late 90s. So why punish the organization today when it has its act together for problems that occurred more than 10 years ago?

Yes they are approaching an annual budget of $1.6 - $1.7M. But so are the rest of the top corps. This corps has huge support from Rockford, but Rockford is usually one of the top "Worst Places to Live" along with Flint, MI, etc. The economy in Rockford is tenuous at best.

I am sorry, but I think that Jonnyboy had a valid point. And it is questionable as to whether the organization has its act together now. I see several flaws in this theory.

First, I seem to remember almost this exact same scenario a couple of years ago, where a bank had made a claim against Phantom for a loan that wasn't having payments made on it. Second, I seem to recall an early season tour of California(no I'm not talking about finals this last year), taking the corps on a very expensive trip out west. Third, I think the problems with the attitude from the souvie people have taken their toll on souvie sales to some degree. People just aren't willing to spend money when there are rude people working, when they can go to the next booth, and have wonderful smiling faces that appreciate their donations/sales, instead of the griping of placements of other corps.

I am not saying I am not going to donate, because I really don't want to see another corps fold, but if I had the option of bringing back SW this season, or donating to PR, I would definitely give the same $$$ to SW.

Another thing I do wonder, since they knew back in June that they owed $400,000, why didn't they cut their tour a little short, and save $$ that way? Yes, finals are important, but isn't it more important to have the corps around for many years to come? I mean, that many vehicles from Cali back to Illinois had to cost thousands. Wouldn't that money have been better spend towards paying off the loan, making a better financial future for PR?

[RegimentContra94]

Help Phantom Regiment pay off a debt

Dec 12, 2007 @ 09:04 PM

By Chuck Sweeny

RRSTAR.COM

The Phantom Regiment, Rockford’s world-class drum and bugle corps, is hard at work once again, arranging another summer of sophisticated field maneuvers and brassy arrangements of classical music.

On two recent weekends, corps leaders auditioned nearly 500 young musicians who traveled from Japan, the Philippines, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, and most of the 50 states. They came to the Forest City because “Phantom” is a name recognized and admired throughout the world of drum corps.

This year they’re competing for open slots in the 150-member ensemble that throughout the summer will travel 15,000 miles to perform in competitions on both coasts and in between, including its annual Show of Shows at Boylan. It’s great advertising for Rockford.

“In Japan and in Europe, marching music kids know exactly where Rockford, Ill., is,” says Tim Farrell, president of the Regiment’s board. The Regiment, founded in 1956, has placed among the top 12 corps in Drum Corps International competition every year since 1974 — Phantom won first place in 1996, came in second in 2006 and was fourth this year.

As you’d expect, it’s expensive to operate a traveling music machine with a cast of a three-ring circus. Corps members ride in three 55-seat charter buses. Support people, including music staff, cooks, seamstresses, nurses and sometimes a volunteer doctor, follow in two others. Then there are two tractor-trailer rigs, one of which is a mobile kitchen that dispenses four meals a day, a smaller truck and some vans.

Reminds me of C.W. McCall’s truck drivin’ song: “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a convoy.”

The annual cash operating budget is $1.2 million. Sponsorships and endorsements that provide uniforms and instruments are worth $250,000.

“King Instruments gives us new instruments every year,” Farrell says. “They had not been in marching music before and came to us. We worked with them to develop instruments.” The corps gets a commission from selling the previous year’s instruments.

Because of the corps’ international reputation, “We’re being courted by two other brass instrument makers.”

Another $200,000 is earned from souvenir sales and music downloads from the DCI Web site. The corps is paid to perform at contests, and it earns money from holding clinics and a marching band show at Harlem High School. About $200,000 comes from donations. And corps performers, aged 16 through 21, pay $2,000 per season.

Bottom line: The Phantom Regiment provides a $6,000 experience to high school and college kids, most planning to pursue careers in the music business.

The corps meets its annual budget, Farrell says, but there’s a nagging problem: a long-term debt incurred in the 1990s by a past board. With accumulated interest, the debt reached $471,000. The corps was able to pay down some of it, but not all. Through a series of negotiations, UM Capital, which owns the debt, agreed to settle for $122,000.

“We’ve raised about $70,000 of that amount and we have to raise the remainder by the end of the year,” Farrell says.

This is where you come in, music armadillos. Oops, I meant aficionados. Help Phantom Regiment retire that debt. Send money. You can pay online by credit card or Pay Pal at Regiment.org, or mail a check to the corps’ office, 5050 E. State St., Rockford IL 61108.

It’s a fantastic show. It puts Rockford on the map — in a positive way. Help keep Phantom Regiment on the road.

Reach Political Editor Chuck Sweeny at 815-987-1372 or csweeny@rrstar.com.

[Kyle B]

Running a corps isn't cheap. There is no way to predict what's going to happen. As stated on their website, they have been running in the black for 2 years in a row.

I don't see how this is any different from any other corps asking to donate money. The only difference is that Phantom is telling you up front they need this to break even where as other corps are a little more hush about the subject of money.

[RegimentContra94]

I mean, that many vehicles from Cali back to Illinois had to cost thousands. Wouldn't that money have been better spend towards paying off the loan, making a better financial future for PR?

If a corp like Regiment takes a year off from finals, recruitment is going to take a huge hit.

[gottalovit]

I have another quick question. According to the article posted here, it says their operating expenses are $1.2 million.

According to their info posted here, it says 200,000 comes from souvies, 200,000 from donations, 250,000 from sponsorships and endorsements, 2,000 each from member dues(135x2,000 = 270,000), plus their tour fees($3,000 per 30 contests approx? approx 90,000) I am not sure what they make on their clinics, but I am guess not more than 10,000 per season. And if their marching band competition is similar to the Iowa ones, they are probably making $5-7 per ticket, maybe max facility of 5,000 people? so add $35,000 for that. These are only adding up to less than 1.1 million, with an operating budget of 1.2 million. So either they are making more money somewhere else, or the person doing their accounting/books is not doing a very good job, and that could be part of the problem. I would actually be curious as to whether they even broke even the last few seasons.

Bottom line is they need the donations to keep the organization running, so I would encourage people to donate, but I would also-as a donor-encourage them to do a much better job with the books and accounting.

[gottalovit]

If a corp like Regiment takes a year off from finals, recruitment is going to take a huge hit.

I don't think that is completely accurate. Kids love Phantom Regiment, and the ones that know the reason Phantom didn't go to finals is because they are on the road to financial recovery, would still audition. You might lost a few, but the ones that really want to march Phantom, for whatever reasons, would still want to march there.

But wouldn't it still be better to take a small hit in recruiting, than to lost a corps forever, or even a couple of seaons?

[2000Cadet]

I'm sorry, but I've never been a fan of bailing million dollar corps out of poor decisions.

Not flame bait, just the way I feel about life. Live within your means, and do without if you catch yourself getting behind. My donation will be sent to an open class corps that doesn't make a practice of breaking out the checkbook in search of titles.

Wow, so much for Phantom being the most loved corps in DCI.

C'mon, I am sure a lot of us have made some questionable financial decisions in order to reach a specific goal. The organization is no different. We all make mistakes. All they are asking for is a little help. I'll be donating. As much as Phantom is not really my FAVORITE corps, it would be a shame if we didn't give them a little help at the very least.

[JimF-LowBari]

Just wondering what the response would be if a Open Class or other non Top 5 corps made this request.

Just sumthin' to thin' about.....

Good luck to Phantom and any corps trying to survive today... $1.2M ####!!!!!

[2000Cadet]

Just wondering what the response would be if a Open Class or other non Top 5 corps made this request.

Just sumthin' to thin' about.....

Good luck to Phantom and any corps trying to survive today... $1.2M ####!!!!!

Good point.

[LAMystreaux]

Just wondering what the response would be if a Open Class or other non Top 5 corps made this request.

Just sumthin' to thin' about.....

Good luck to Phantom and any corps trying to survive today... $1.2M ####!!!!!

I think we know how the attitudes would be if it were a couple of the other top-5 corps campaigning on DCP like this. In a couple of words, very different.

Good luck to Phantom and I hope they get what they need to survive.