If Lucas Oil was a Bust...

[Wildabeast]

Well, if it does end up in Santa Clara...

New 49ers Stadium

I believe it'll be natural grass. The current plan is to build it on part of the parking lot of California's Great America amusement park, currently owned by Cedar Fair. There are maybe 4-5 major hotels in the immediate area and the Santa Clara Convention Center (connected to the Hyatt) is right across the street (I & E?). There is a light rail station already in place between Great America & the Convention Center. The stadium would also lie between 2 freeways that are very close. San Jose International is only 5-10 minutes away.

DCI West @ Stanford should be one of the last regionals, and is only 20 minutes away. Open Class QF (& even SF/F?) could be at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium, also about 20 minutes away.

Biggest plus (for me)...I could walk to the stadium from home.

Cons: It's not built yet. Cedar Fair is putting up a fight. The stadium lies underneath the flight paths of incoming/outgoing for San Jose International.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Wildabeast

[Jeff Ream]

especially the grass fields in the north east where it is a ##### to keep them nice with the weather. I'm not just saying this because I'm from the area, but if philly changed to an artificial surface, I think it would be great for drum corps... only problem is the regional an hour away... and I'm sure there would be many fans that feel neglected, and jealous. Parking is great though... oh wait... there is an airport right near by and 95 basically connects to the stadium. Would be plenty to do for the fans... got some great baseball in town too.

make the regional early.

but...yeah we need an artificial surface, preferably not old school carpet.

Madison, for all of it's cons, loves DCI.

Denver apparently was awesome.

we need to rotate...east, west, midwest, south ( not too far south so we dont die of humidity in August)

much as I'd love to see the new Dallas stadium, jerry Jones will gouge us every way he can think of. If people #####ed about Foxboro prices, wait til you get to JerryWorld. ( and i'm a Dallas fan)

Bloomington sounds awesome.

I always enjoyed Buffalo.

Orlando...good god no.

San Diego would intrigue me, I have family in El Cajon and Santee

Seattle....would rain be an issue?

I liked College Park a lot in 2000

[Jeff Ream]

Is philly that stadium that hosted the Allentown show when they were re-doing the seats? Because if it is...I absolutely HATED my seat...they put me right behind this huge pillar. It was my worst seat ever...I'd choose the end zone over that. So if these seats were excluded, I probably wouldn't mind so much...now I will stop ranting about it...

nah that's Franklin Field

[tommyfromhowardst]

Whitewater.

[Jami]

i loved Madison as a spectator, and Denver as a performer and spectator.

[Jeff Ream]

I would go to the rotation system again. Midwest, East, South, Mountain, Midwest, East, Wildcard, West. Corps would only go to Cali once every 8 years, West Coast corps only go east every 4 (still an imbalance but there are more corps in thee astern half of the country. My rotation would be...

Bloomington... An accidental success. Dare I say it, drum corps PERFECTION! I've been saying they should have finals here since I first performed there in PoC in 1991

Buffalo... A stadium with DCI history. Nice accoustically, decent parking. Not really in a ghetto. Also decent airport access. Things to do in the area other than drum corps (Niagra Falls, Canada).

Austin... Not really "South" in the traditional sense, but many plusses here. Yes it is hot as h-e-double hockey sticks in TX in Aug, BUT at least it is not humid. With The Crossmen and Revo both being located in TX as well as Forte and some senior corps, I thing TX should be included on the rotation. Memorial Stadium has a HUGE concert side and there is an alternative field on campus that could be used for quarterfinals and Open Class

Denver... Duh! A VERY successful RECENT championships site. Plenty of parking. Good access. Plenty to do in the area. A no brainer.

Madison... Camp Randall is the SOUL of DCI. No finals rotation should be without it. End of Story.

Orlando... Yeah yeah yeah... I know, lots of folks say it was a disaster but it IS the vacation center of the Universe. You can't argue with the pulling power of Mickey and Co. The stadium aint half bad either. Also, a tie in with Disney would be a must!

The Wildcard.

This would be for any one of a number of venues to be included that would not otherwise be included on the permanent rotation. Only venues in this rotation would be considered for placement on future rotations. On this list, I would include the following for consideration:

Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta

Jacksonville

Stanford... Not really sure if it is big enough but it IS a beautiful statdium. ALternatively I would have picked Qualcomm in San Diego.

At the end of the day, DCI is an OUTDOOR activity. The beauty of having Finals in places like Bloomington and Madison is ATMOSPHERE, something that by all accounts LOS sorely lacks!

win

[Scarryfast]

I've only been to one Finals weekend, and it was at the Rose Bowl, only 90 minutes away. I thought it was wonderful, thought that has been confirmed after attending the last two fireworks shows with accompanying drum corps exhibitions on the 4th of July. I agree the lights were/are a problem with the humming, but I found the traffic helicopters buzzing around to be THE most annoying aspect of the stadium. Parking at the Rose Bowl sucks, always has, always will.

That said, from what I've gleaned from Fan Network videos over the years, I feel that Camp Randall in Madison is the best of the bunch, and that is only from what I've seen and heard on the videos. I wish I'd been lucky enough/ had enough forethought/opportunity to attend finals at the other locations. I had planned on attending finals at Indianapolis next year, but now I'm thinking not. Maybe I'll go to the Houston/Dallas/San Antonio drum corps shows so I can see all the corps twice in 3 days. I was impressed with the sound on the On Demand vids from the Houston show this year. Does anyone know if they plan to be there again next summer? By the way, heat is no issue for me. I live on the surface of the sun it seems here in Bakersfield, CA...LOL

All in all, I say go back to Madison!!

Edited August 11, 2009 by Scarryfast

[Cainan]

Doesn't matter where or how much anyone liikes a stadium. Indy has it for eight more years, get used to it and don't buy the seats right behind the plexiglass. It really hurts the view and the sound. I didn't mind the sound overall. I think it made the corps sund bigger than they actually where and no winds had to help the guard. A little echo never hurt anyone, but DCI overdid their ten year commitment. Life goes on. Lets worry more about bringing our soldiers home and less about acoustics in a weeklong event.

What on earth does bringing troops home have to do with DCI Finals. Don't try hijacking the thread.

[Cainan]

how about soldier field in chicago!

I thought about that one but looking at it there were too many cons... First off, the weird shape of the stadium itself. I think in the end it would be the exact opposite to LOS in that with all the various levels and walkways, the sound would just get swallowed up in there. A little bit of echo (and I stress a LITTLE bit) is good. Also, whilst Chicago is a world class city, the access in and out of the stadium would be horrendous. The stadium is bang on downtown. Having spent a couple of years as a truck driver, I can attest that the traffic there is nothing to be played with. Plus, there are loads of toll roads further adding to corps already stretched budgets, i just don't see it as a winner.

[KeithHall]

I chuckled at the comment..."Buffalo..."not really in a ghetto..."

Ah Orchard Park is a fairly wealthy community and the ghetto is in Buffalo, is there still ghetto's in Buffaolo? Any city in America? Didn't our government clean all that up?

win