Future DCA Championships.

[Fred Windish]

I think the key for the long-distance travel option for ANY all-age corps is having a 3rd day available, as in Labor Day Weekend.

To pull-off long-distance travel on a regular, non-holiday weekend will be a problem. I can see, maybe, a large event being held over the Fourth of July that would involve some corps from every region, but beyond that, it will be difficult.

I have no problem with the event becoming permanent to Rochester. It's a fine city, very supportive, with two well-run local drum corps. All facilities are excellent, with the exception of the current stadium being too small to encourage growth of the event.

The Kentucky Derby will always be in Louisville, and the horses don't seem to mind. The Tournament of Roses will always be in Pasadena, and the flowers aren't complaining. Mardi Gras can be expected to remain in New Orleans, and if people participating there have a problem, they just "refresh away" their troubles!

[JohnZ]

YOur point is correct and well taken Fred, but again let's point out the obvious mantra that those corps from beyond that imaginary NE boundary do those long distance travel shows every year - travel on Thursday or Friday for most of the corps, rest of the corps flies in on Saturday, do the show, all day travel home on Sunday.

it has been done, can be done, and what was one of the 'givens' when the long distance corps first decided to form and compete in the DCA arena. would be nice if there was a little more 'quid pro quo', but to be honest, I don't think it is really a necessity any more for any of the eastern seaboard corps to travel to the other regions. the regions are growing their own following by what I saw this year, and might just do okay without the payback, or without having to rely on those long distance shows. the competition within the regions is getting exciting, more folks are coming out to see it, and of course, the cost of travel increasing, makes it more unlikely that corps can continue or entertain the thought of a whole lot of travel in their budgets with the exception of Labor Day, of course.

just my opinion.

[Gary Matczak]

all good stuff,................and although many people will travel to wherever finals is held,.......the key factors to know are how much of the recent DCA finals attendance is local/regional/long distance,.....................

[OldStyleCorps]

Just a Note to Surprise NON North East people.

First lets use Minnesota Brass as an Example. Their Longest Trip other than DCA Championships was:

Minneapolis to Milwaulkee, Wisc.

6 & 1/2 Hours or 330 Miles

(they did Two shows that SAME Weekend another was in Racine,Wisc.

NOW - North East groups;

R. Crusaders

Rochester,NY to Bridgeport, CT

6 & 1/4 Hours or 360 Miles

Hurricanes

Shelton, CT to Manassas, VA

6 Hours or 330 Miles

Empire Statesmen

Rochester, NY to West Haven, CT

7 Hours or 325 Miles

and

Rochester, NY to Lawrence, Mass.

6 & 1/2 Hours or 400 Miles

and

Rochester, NY to Clifton, NJ

6 Hours or 323 Miles

(these Three shows were on DIFFERENT Weekends)

Hawthorne Cabs

Hawthorne, NJ to Rochester, NY

6 Hours or 324 Miles

(this was a regular season show. NOT the DCA Championships)

and

Hawthorne,NJ to Lawrence, Mass.

5 Hours or 250 miles

Even a Class A group

Fusion Corps

Woodbridge, NJ to Waterloo, NY

5 Hours or 295 Miles

and

Woodbridge, NJ to Lawrence, Mass.

5 Hours or 295 Miles

So. To those that say "North East groups: Do not have to travel" or Will NOT Travel. Here is a list of some that did JUST as much as A DCA Central group did. Some even MORE!! (I know I could have used a number of other groups like, Kilties, MCL or whoever.

North East Corps do Travel.

Just NOT to where YOU may want them to.

It is really sad that the rest of the U S allowed all the Senior Corps to die off. That the North East did not. Should NOT be held againest them. I ALSO believe that the DCA South and DCA Central are GROWING fast now and soon they will have MORE shows during the Season. Also look. Soon there may be a DCA South West. With Texas leading the way for Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Louisiana.

Edited September 14, 2008 by OldStyleCorps

[zorf]

To those that say "North East groups: Do not have to travel" or Will NOT Travel. Here is a list of some that did JUST as much as A DCA Central group did. Some even MORE!! (I know I could have used a number of other groups like, Kilties, MCL or whoever.

North East Corps do Travel.

Just NOT to where YOU may want them to.

It is really sad that the rest of the U S allowed all the Senior Corps to die off. That the North East did not. Should NOT be held againest them. I ALSO believe that the DCA South and DCA Central are GROWING fast now and soon they will have MORE shows during the Season. Also look. Soon there may be a DCA South West. With Texas leading the way for Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Louisiana.

Can't argue that, but isn't the issue one of where the final championships will be held? I do agree that the regions need to grow and develop their own base of quality shows. Even an occasional "Super Regional" may happen such as in Ohio when MBI was able to be in a show with Empire Statesmen during the regular season. Or maybe some DCA Central corps traveling Southwest to meet up with DCA West and DCA South. But we can't count on getting corps from the Northeast to travel to DCA Central shows, especially with the cost of fuel and tough economic conditions of today.

It is a dream to think of the championship being held outside of the Northeast, and it may happen some day. But, I don't have any problem personally going back to Rochester again.

[Fran Haring]

I have no problem with the event becoming permanent to Rochester. It's a fine city, very supportive, with two well-run local drum corps. All facilities are excellent, with the exception of the current stadium being too small to encourage growth of the event.

The Kentucky Derby will always be in Louisville, and the horses don't seem to mind. The Tournament of Roses will always be in Pasadena, and the flowers aren't complaining. Mardi Gras can be expected to remain in New Orleans, and if people participating there have a problem, they just "refresh away" their troubles!

Good points, Fred.

From the point of view of a show staff member, there is definitely something to be said for keeping the championships at a particular site for several years running. We get to know the venue(s) well, we deal with basically the same stadium and city personnel year in and year out, the hotel situation becomes familiar. Heck, we even get to know where we like to eat!

I'm not speaking for the folks at DCI, but I think that is at least one reason DCI is going with their "permanent base" in Indianapolis for their championship. If you find a good home, it makes sense to keep it.

Like I said in an earlier post.... if Paetec ever adds a few thousand seats, I could see it as a semi-permanent "home" for DCA's... perhaps rotating it out of there from time to time to another venue, maybe in the Midwest or South or wherever.

Fran

[TAFL]

Just a Note to Surprise NON North East people.

Just a note to the NE people:

Show in Denton, TX: 465 miles

Show in Twin Cities (we're planning to appear): 459 miles

Austin, TX: 716 miles (should we visit the Stars)

Denver, CO: 602 miles (should we visit High Country Brass)

Racine, WI: 587 miles (to pick a corps town in WI)

Nashville, TN: 577 miles (should we visit Music City Legend)

What was that about travel, again?

Note that these are all destinations within the Central Region as it exists and some (Denver, Denton, Austin) within a possible SW Region. Our closest show is 460 miles (until we get a home show put together). We have to look at our competitive area as extending out 700 miles.

High Country Brass has longer distances to travel.

Should we aim for Rochester: 1074 miles

We accept that we have to travel long distances--after all, we live in wide open country. The idea that we should think it OK to always toss an 1100 mile trip on top of traveling 500-700 miles for every other show seems a bit extreme from here. If DCA Championships always stay in Rochester, I suspect it would only be a once-every-couple-o-years trip for us, regardless of how competitive we get.

[OldStyleCorps]

Just a note to the NE people:

Show in Denton, TX: 465 miles

Show in Twin Cities (we're planning to appear): 459 miles

Austin, TX: 716 miles (should we visit the Stars)

Denver, CO: 602 miles (should we visit High Country Brass)

Racine, WI: 587 miles (to pick a corps town in WI)

Nashville, TN: 577 miles (should we visit Music City Legend)

What was that about travel, again?

Note that these are all destinations within the Central Region as it exists and some (Denver, Denton, Austin) within a possible SW Region. Our closest show is 460 miles (until we get a home show put together). We have to look at our competitive area as extending out 700 miles.

High Country Brass has longer distances to travel.

Should we aim for Rochester: 1074 miles

We accept that we have to travel long distances--after all, we live in wide open country. The idea that we should think it OK to always toss an 1100 mile trip on top of traveling 500-700 miles for every other show seems a bit extreme from here. If DCA Championships always stay in Rochester, I suspect it would only be a once-every-couple-o-years trip for us, regardless of how competitive we get.

To this I reply: AGAIN

"It is really sad that the rest of the U S allowed all the Senior Corps to die off. That the North East did not. Should NOT be held againest them. I ALSO believe that the DCA South and DCA Central are GROWING fast now, AND, soon they will have MORE shows during the Season. Also look. Soon there may be a DCA South West. With Texas leading the way for Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Louisiana."

KEEP Building your REGION. So shows will be shorter distance. That is the IMPORTANT thing. GOOD LUCK to you and Prairie Sound and ALL the South West Corps. The More the BETTER for ALL N.E.S.& W.

I look FORWARD to a Super Regional one day in say Ohio with a few from each area. Boy, can you imagine a show like this:

"Oh What A Night"

In Marion, Ohio - July 4th '09 or '10

Empire Statesmen

Reading Bucaneers

Minnesota Brass

Kilties

CorpsVets

Music City Legend

Sun Devils

Frontier

Gulf Coast Sound

Prairie Sound

[Fran Haring]

I look FORWARD to a Super Regional one day in say Ohio with a few from each area. Boy, can you imagine a show like this:

"Oh What A Night"

In Marion, Ohio - July 4th '09 or '10

Empire Statesmen

Reading Bucaneers

Minnesota Brass

Kilties

CorpsVets

Music City Legend

Sun Devils

Frontier

Gulf Coast Sound

Prairie Sound

If the show was in Marion, perhaps the U.S. Open could be revived!

Fran

Edited September 15, 2008 by Fran Haring

[Jeff Ream]

First of all, I'm not sure why people are so hung up on the "high cost" for East coast corps having to attend a championship in a Western or Southern city. Most of them are already staying in motels anyway so slap in some gas money for the corps truck (and a plane ticket if you want to travel easy) and ba-bing you're at championships. It's one weekend - we are not asking the Northeast corps to make a dozen trips to Iowa and back in one season. Do an extra parade on the 4th of July and you'll be fine.

Potential locations - It has to be a city of decent size because you need to not only have hotels for the fans but most of the corps members as well. Where as DCI might fly in a smaller college town like Dekalb, IL with a stadium that seats 10-15k, you'll have a hard time getting DCA in that town because they won't have the necessary facilities (hotels, places to eat, etc.) as most members and fans of DCA won't go for eating PB&J out the back of a bus and sleeping on a gym floor at night in a local school. Maybe I'm wrong, but based on looking at the stadium for DCA the last couple years, DCA has no need for an NFL or Div-I college sized stadium because they'll never fill it. I would much rather play to a packed medium sized stadium. When you sell out in June for Finals, then start looking at bigger venues for the next year.

I think Ohio or Indiana might be a good start. Or how about KY to help out the southern corps? Don't just think of DCA's current fans, but where could you also tap into new fans. HS marching bands are huge in KY, IN, and IL. If you get the word out, I'm sure you can draw local fans as well and then you don't have to rely on 5,000 NE fans making the trip. If they don't enjoy DCA enough to travel a few hundred miles for the championships, are they really fans, or are they fair weather fans? "Well, I'll go if I don't have to travel too far..." Sorry to use a DCI comparison, but that would be like Cadets, Boston, Crown, Magic, etc skipping finals in CA because it was too far or too costly. I'm sorry but that just doesn't hold water. Either you want to compete and/or see DCA or you don't. If you won't travel to take part in the activity then I would have to question how much you enjoy it.

I'm sure someone will take personal offense with this post, but keep in mind it was made by someone that has to drive 3-4 hours one way just to get to each rehearsal with my corps. So you'll have to excuse me for questioning why folks can't take a little drive once a year to reach the World Championships of DCA...

Ryan J

I'm not offended at all. I am just thinking of where you can GUARANTEE the amount of fans needed to make it work.