The one bad thing about Rochester Stadium

[Contra Joe]

Those darm Soccer Stadiums. I have often wondered how those football teams that play there can possibly play football on that field.

Then again, I've often wondered how Pele' could play soccer at the Meadow Lands.

If the stadium had 2 to 3 thousand more good sideline seat it would be great.

Here is hoping UAlbany (summer home to the Superbowl Champion NY Giants) gets off of thier behinds and builds the Football Stadium they have been speaking about for a couple of years. Albany, NY would be a perfect host City and the UAlbany campus would be a perfect location for the show. tons of parking and plenty of venues for I&E. Many local hotels and a ton of places to eat. Just a thought for the future (although school will be in session - there goes that idea)

[BariBone]

Rochester is by far the best host city DCA can ask for to fill all the needs of a modern DCA championship weekend. You will not see a better I/E, minicorps set up. I certainly do not want to see a return of the days of watching minicorps on a dimly lit asphalt patch while craining to see and hear over a mob of people. I have not read one complaint of any corps practice facilitites and the Clarion/Hyatt area seems to be DCA central the last few years and is the perfect place to reunite with and make new freinds within the circuit. It has the feel of a drum corps convention. The marching surface is state of the art at the stadium and withstood hurricane conditions and 20 corps 2 years ago .

[Kansan]

I have no problem with the stadium or Rochester and I would like it even better if we could move City of Rochester to KC for a Day. Just a bunch of giant Transport Trucks and shazaam!

An alternative would be if Dream would get to work on those transporters so the cost of travel wouldn't be so high.

[Jeff Ream]

I believe Paytec park is about as good as you are ever going to find. Lets face it, no one will ever build a stadium with drum corps in mind. I also felt, as a judge for finals, it was about an intimate a setting as you will find.

The city of Rochester is also the most comfortable places to host an activity of this kind. I always thought Scranton was a chore to get around, Allentown not any easier. The cops in Scranton didn't make it a pleasure thats for sure

actually, when i win powerball Dave, I will do just that!

( a bar at each end zone too)

[Galen]

Here is hoping UAlbany (summer home to the Superbowl Champion NY Giants) gets off of thier behinds and builds the Football Stadium they have been speaking about for a couple of years.

From what I've read, don't hold your breath on that. But I'll agree they need a new one- the one they have is a JOKE.

[muzzicman1]

I AGREE that the Alumni show is a GOOD DRAW fan wise. The Problem is they (Alumni Corps) do not do a lot of traveling. One of the main reasons you do not see Blessed Sacrament at DCA. Reilly usualy has a major trip each year. BUT, they go to a Special Event's like St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland - Savannah, GA - and - Las Vagas NV or take a Cruise somewhere. A E Musketeers do not travel ETC. If you make it farther even more will not go.

Well, it sounds like Kevin is more informed about the SDCA movement, so I can not comment any further. I will agree with you though about Blessed Sac, Reilly and Archer. Its a shame they can't always make the trip. But just think about the doors that open for other Alumni Corps. It would be great to see that Cavaliers Alumni Corps or the Madison Scouts Alumni, just to name a few.

I do know there are more out there and I wouldn't want to sacrifice or discourage the Cabs, Skys or Bridgemen from making the show. It wouldn't be the same......just my opinion on it also........

An Alumni Circuit sounds like a great idea, I hope it can develop into a performance alternative for us old guys who still love to play, but can't go on tour.

[dancingfrog]

ok

couple of things

moving forward probably could be done... might help... might not - multitude of extra lines would be confusing

my concern is that if you move forward even just 5 yards... does that completely kill the seats from the 35 to the 0 yard lines?

field was set exactly the same three years in a row

Now Frontier field... not to make excuses... it sucked... but I was one who walked the stadium when they first allowed us to go into the construction site... I knew right away that we had been done in by Maury Silver's daughter Naomi - then owner of the ball club... the stadium design we had bid to (yes we bid a stadium sight unseen) had been changed by the silver family turning what was supposed to be a multi purpose facility for the community into an old time retro ball park... the change was the pitch of the seats... Had the stadium had the normal pitch in the first drawings - we would have been ok... not perfect but ok...

It was still the largest crowd in "modern" dca history

Tom,

Many people in Rochester wondered why Frontier wasn't a multi-purpose stadium as in Scranton or Syracuse. Especially since the Rochester baseball team was not doing well at that time and the teams from Syracuse and Scranton were better. Naomi must have thought that she was dedicating a baseball only stadium to her father. Once again, like the Fast Ferry, poor planning. Thanks for clearing things up!

[wishbonecav]

Dare I say it...

Play louder.

Seriously though...this is Frontier Field in Rochester. Site of 1996 DCA Finals. The front sideline was BEHIND 2ND BASE. AND...the field got cut off at around the 10's or 15's on either side due to there not being enough room left to right!!

And the field was reoriented because dca sold so many tickets. The original configuration had the same setup as Scranton, but ticket sales got to the point where a decision had to be made...call it a sellout at less than 2/3 capacity, or sell the place out and try to accomodate as many drum corps fans as possible.

Guess what the decision was?

And for a record crowd of 9,500.

I have never been, nor will ever be, a critic of that decision because it came with incredible thoughtfulness and an eye toward a bigger picture.

But....but...but...

please, save your letters. It was tough on the fans to get a 50 yard line seat and feel as if you were in Rich Stadium in row DD. It was also probably tough to get a seat whose sightline oriention was INTO the endzone. I get it.

But the tickets were still very reasonably priced, the atmosphere was electric, there was still a turnaway crowd on Sunday and that particular Finals night is still an all-time memory for me. Make no mistake: the experience from 1996 was invaluable in getting the championships back in Rochester from 2006-2009. There was a lot of good-will and community cooperation in 96 that was called upon in these later years.

And Empire proved unequivocally that Rochester was the right market for dca (it just needed the right venue). Ta-da!

[hairbear]

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Edited September 9, 2008 by hairbear

[CozyChopsCom]

one final concern with moving the field closer... the architects take all these things into account... would the angle from the third deck also be screwed up if it was 5 yards closer?

If it was closer, I believe we would have to further limit the number of photographers allowed.. just a secondary lose you might not think of... I was still bothered at prelims with too many people in the front area...

and while I certainly subscribe to "loud is good"... I'm not sure the newer fans would agree if it got too much "in your face"

I know, there's no such thing as TOO MUCH "in your face"

At any stadium, I like to see the action as close to the fan$ as possible. However, I'd never like to see the skilled, dedicated photographers limited more than currently. Francesca DeMello, Harry Heidelmark, Dan Scafidi and Richard Wersinger for DCWorld, and Charlie Groh for DCPlanet all contributed superbly in their roles as photojournalists.

All of us, whether we were in Rochester or sitting back home checking the excellent live coverage here on DCP should go back and check out the fantastic Groh photos of all 3 major field events. The October issue of DCW typically has more photos than normal and that's a lot. Steve Vickers, DCW publisher, has over 2,000 pics from our 4 photographers who worked hard on the field.

Move the action closer, but let's keep our photogs who photograph the history of our activity. Contact these photogs to see if you were preserved as part of this history. Odds are good that you were.