Lancerlady Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 (edited) So...in your eyes...the amplifiers and thr Bb horns...all artistic changes....were made to put more butts in seats? Nothing could be further from the truth.Last year, eclipsed all attendance records from the prior 10 previous years. This year will no doubt be a smaller attended finals than last year...just a guess...because of all the logistic changes, etc. I believe next season is crucial especially if fuel prices hold steady or "God forbid" rise even more. But, that will also have a huge affect on the corps and their budgets. And none of this has anything to do with amplifiers, or narration, or other toys. Well TB , I was at the meeting in Orlando when this passed. Some of the conversations were... they thought this would attract new people to the activity. I didn't say that the amps and all changes were made to the activity would put more people in seats. I am just saying what was implied at the meetings. How many were at last years? Something like 24,000? I hope gas prices start going down and that the activity will thrive. This was a great year for drum corps, and brought this one person back who was considering leaving. So thank you for an entertaining year and for Phantom winning! Edited August 12, 2008 by Lancerlady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKMello84 Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 i heard pasadena was over 40,000. was that wrong? As one who as there, it certainly appeared to be something over 30,000, but not by much. If DCI is reporting 24k +, I assume that is paid attendance. No way to know how many might be able to get seats without paying. 40k is definitely way to high, IMO. So - history being the lie most commonly agreed upon, who's got the real (in post modernist terms of course) numbers? Once can chose to believe stevedci's figures or not, but getting something which is more reliable is probably outside the realm of possibility. One thing which cannot be disputed in terms of Montreal is that those years had the most corps participating in DCI, and by a fairly good margin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 What is interesting about that photo is the jumbo-tron was on the end zone......look at the crowd there! Oh, yeah. When finals were at Mile High Stadium in '78, guess where we Oakies, and Cavies, and countless others sat? On the endzone side stands. No hope of finding a seat anywhere in front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 I would venture to guess very high teens to maybe 20,000 at best from what i could tell sitting in the stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 i heard pasadena was over 40,000. was that wrong? Ughh just a little off I would say. I think it was close to 25,000 paid attendance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Well we can put a few facts into this conversation (pesky as they may be).The yearbook/program for this year includes paid attendance figures for the last ten years of finals. Here's what they say: 1999 (Madison) 19,931 2000 (College Park) 18,423 2001 (Buffalo) 16,505 2002 (Madison) 20,230 2003 (Orlando) 18,865 2004 (Denver) 22,047 2005 (Boston) 20,542 2006 (Madison) 21,236 2007 (Pasadena) 24,395 The attendance on Saturday seemed great. The low 20,000s sounds like a good rough estimate. Of course, this doesn't include past history so I can't chime in on the Montreal thread or late 80s numbers. I seem to recall DCI saying that in the late 80s attendance was in the 30k range but whether that's total or paid attendance I can't say. Not to add more guessing to this thread, but... I was told from a DCI staffer that attendance numbers prior to the mid-/late 90's was unreliable at best. I was told DCI did not keep anything close to accurate attendance figures prior to Dan Acheson's tenure, and anything previous to what was stated above (perhaps minus a few more late 90's numbers) is not very accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davam Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Not to add more guessing to this thread, but...I was told from a DCI staffer that attendance numbers prior to the mid-/late 90's was unreliable at best. I was told DCI did not keep anything close to accurate attendance figures prior to Dan Acheson's tenure, and anything previous to what was stated above (perhaps minus a few more late 90's numbers) is not very accurate. This is very key. I too have read that attendance figures from the 1970s and 1980s are unreliable and inconsistent. The key to what was published in the yearbook this year is the phrase "paid attendance." Those big numbers from Montreal and past years may (or may not) be "paid attendance." And consider this: This year, we had about 43 corps (World and Open classes) competing at finals - by all indications less than half of what we had in Montreal, and attendace was still in the 20,000 range - more than half of Montreal attendance. Also, in recent years, with DCI's emphasis on super-regionals such as San Antonio and Atlanta, overall attendance at DCI events throughout the summer is more important than finals attendance. I've read on these boards about people who are more than content to attend one of the big regionals events and skip finals. Add to that the revenue from folks tuning into the Fan Network and at movie theaters, and it seems like DCI is on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKMello84 Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Also, in recent years, with DCI's emphasis on super-regionals such as San Antonio and Atlanta, overall attendance at DCI events throughout the summer is more important than finals attendance. Why is it more important? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 i wouldnt be surprised if numbers were down somewhat...the cost of travel, even to local shows was off the charts this summer. you cant fault DCI for that, and, they had robably had the most fan friendly line up of shows from the corps to draw in the audience in years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyboy Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 (edited) What is interesting about that photo is the jumbo-tron was on the end zone......look at the crowd there! Too bad DCI doesn't let the kids enter the stadium and sit in the back stands anymore. Anyone know why this is so? If Montreal had 140 corps and all of those kids could enter the stadium and grab an empty seat, that would be at least 2-4 thousand kids. Is anyone else familiar with Honda Battle of the Bands? It is basically a show for historically black college marching bands They sold out the Georgia Dome (65,00 seats) three years in a row a few years ago and still do pretty good. I have never been to the show but I believe tickets are pretty cheap (ten bucks?) and the event is in January. I only mention it because by pure numbers it blows away DCI Finals. www.hondabattleofthebands.com Edited August 12, 2008 by jonnyboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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