audiodb Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 People say "keep it in Michigan City" but the attendance at quarterfinals was not that great. At best, the stadium was about half full for the last four or five corps. Considering that stadium seats what, over 3,000....half that is as good as it ever gets for an open-class prelims on a Tuesday afternoon/evening. Many other championship venues have only mustered 25% of that for Tuesday's round. Michigan City provides a substantial audience boost. (But I wouldn't run Friday/Saturday events there when world-class is in Indy.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 (But I wouldn't run Friday/Saturday events there when world-class is in Indy.) Neither would I. The Indy crowds were far larger than Michigan City. I think they were larger than the 2-3000 estimates stated here, especially finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Rick Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Asking OC corps to do marketing themselves for DCI Finals Week is fantasy. OC corps do not have the manpower or the money, are almost universally not located properly, and frankly, do not have the skill or experience. And, they never will. If only there was an organization that governed all of the OC corps and could act centrally with unification of message and pooled resources to market the events... oh wait. 25,000 drum corps fans are already IN Indianapolis during the OC shows, the cost of the tickets are a pittance compared to what these people have already spent, and they aren't doing JACK while the shows are going on! It should be so easy! Seriously, when I get my degree, I should work for DCI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brace Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Asking OC corps to do marketing themselves for DCI Finals Week is fantasy. OC corps do not have the manpower or the money, are almost universally not located properly, and frankly, do not have the skill or experience. And, they never will. If only there was an organization that governed all of the OC corps and could act centrally with unification of message and pooled resources to market the events... oh wait.25,000 drum corps fans are already IN Indianapolis during the OC shows, the cost of the tickets are a pittance compared to what these people have already spent, and they aren't doing JACK while the shows are going on! It should be so easy! Seriously, when I get my degree, I should work for DCI. Getting these 25K to show up for OC has alaws been the challenge....sounds like no attendance jump compared to the past few years...between 5K - 6K total. When you look at the number of repeat attenders we are talking about a modest audience size of 3K max. Now, if real drum corps fans in Indy won't go to see them, what makes you think Indiana band kids will go see them? I think people have a false idea if you think too many people more than mom and dad even care if your name is NOT BD, Cavies, PR, etc. That's who people want to see. I will wager DCI can't give away tickets to boost crowd numbers. And the addage always has been, if you can't give it away, you can't sell it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsMom Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) I wonder what is more important? The money from the event or having fans in the stands. If your finals ticket was for both OC & WC finals, you might get a few more showing up..... Having said that, I usually get seats on the 50 for WC finals and there are people who just show up for the top 5 corps..... Maybe they are out in the parking lot watching their favourite corps prepare, but I don't understand how they can call themselves real Drum Corps fans. The OC corps deserve a bigger crowd. Edited August 17, 2009 by DrumCorpsMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicBobert Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 DCI should absolutely NOT keep semis/finals in Michigan City. First of all, none of the WC audience would attend because it's too far away. Secondly, as a former OC performer, I always preferred to play in the big stadiums, even if the crowds looked small. OC is much more about the kids, and denying them the opportunity to play in the same stadium as the "big boys" just to make the crowd look bigger doesn't make any sense at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDale Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 DCI should absolutely NOT keep semis/finals in Michigan City. First of all, none of the WC audience would attend because it's too far away. Secondly, as a former OC performer, I always preferred to play in the big stadiums, even if the crowds looked small.OC is much more about the kids, and denying them the opportunity to play in the same stadium as the "big boys" just to make the crowd look bigger doesn't make any sense at all. I wish they would just stay in Michigan City. They just need to finish their finals before Thursday. I am not sure if they need Quarterfinals anymore, as the number of eliminated corps is not that much and very predicatable anyway. If you want to march in the big stadium, be in a big corps. We never got to march in "the" stadium, nor did we get participation medals, or age-out medals. We got a medal when we made finals, in the big boys. Our top 25 patches did not even match the finalist patch. I saw many a kid that marched my first year in finals that had the same patch, with semi-finalist on it. I even knew a couple of east coasters that took semi off their patch to make it look just like a finalist patch. Keep it and finish it in Michigan City. Make the finals in the evening and not in the early AM. Wonder why folks don't attend? Go to Quarterfinals, hang at the souvies afterwards, go to the pub and get some food and beverage and hang with your friends. Maybe tailgate with them in the lot, because you only see them once a year. Sleep in late and go to Semis in the late PM. People do not want to get up again at 7 or 8 am and pay for parking twice or have a really long day in Indy. It is disgraceful to play to an empty stadium and seeing 50 or 60 people in those empty stands is an injustice. I was at field level and that is what it looks like to the kids. If 1000 were there, I have no idea where they were at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OICMR corps Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I wonder what is more important? The money from the event or having fans in the stands. If your finals tickets was for both OC & WC finals, you might get more..... Having said that, I usually get seats on the 50 for WC finals and there are people who just show up for the top 5 corps..... Maybe they are out in the parking lot watching their favourite corps prepare, but I don't understand how they can call themselves real Drum Corps fans. The OC corps deserve a bigger crowd. Yeah, I always have to wonder what (is it 1/8, maybe 1/4?) of the crowd at finals are really doing when the 12th best corps in the world performs their show. If people aren't going to show up for WC #12, no promotion imaginable is going to give a boost to OC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 The OC corps have no power or control in DCI. None of the OC directors sit on the BOD. They have no say whatsoever, in any substantial matters. They certainly have no control over the marketing and promotional decisions. And apparently, the status quo suits the the BOD just fine. I guess the OC folks will have to do this themselves, since DCI won't help them. Essentially, they have to do DCI's job for them. Maybe BDB, SCVC, Citations, et al, need to start doing promotional events in Indianapolis, or create their own marketing and promotional work for OC finals. OC has their own board where they could organize and fight for themselves. they just dont Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I'd like to know how many people watched Fridays semi-finals live on Fan Network?Cause them are some dedicated fans! It's really too bad that the semis was not later made Video on Demand since it started early AM for us on the west coast. due to work issues, i was able to watch the last half Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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