Worst Championships Venue

[cowtown]

Indy and the Oily Echo Dome because the sound was THAT bad...

(I really liked Jackson and had a blast there, I don't get the hate, Is it at the stadium or the town? why all thet hate for that place?)

Edited August 21, 2009 by cowtown

[shawn craig]

It seems some of the posters look at a specific aspect of the event rather then the event overall. I tend to look at the over all experience; venue, site in relation to activities, access to hotels, getting to the site/city easily, weather, etc.

Personally looking at everything and at the last 30 some years of DCI (sorry OP), Dallas was the worst. Including taking your life in your own hands if you wanted to venture outside of the stadium. Jackson was second worst, although I know you can't control the weather, that humidity was the worst I ever experienced..... including south Florida.

I agree Lucus was a bad place to "listen" to drum corps. I loved it because it's only a 3 hour drive from me, we could walk to the venue from the hotel (didn't have to pay for parking), it was close to downtown Indy and all of its restaurants and bars and mall. The stadium was quite nice because of it being so new. You could eat off the bathroom floors.... well, maybe not literally but the whole place was pretty darn clean.

My favorate; KC was great although you had to travel a little to get to downtown. Second favorate, Denver. Again, hotels and restaurants near, etc.

I can appreciate that those other elements are important and a part of the overall experience.

However, the main event is the Championship and how the corps sound gets A LOT more weight then some other things.

For example, yes, it's nice to walk from the hotel and not have to pay parking but it would be worth it to me if the sound of the coprs was going to be greatly imporved.

Lucas Oil was new and clean and I can't complain about that aspect, However, I didn't find it exceptional, Denver was superior IMO.

[WWonka]

(I really liked Jackson and had a blast there, I don't get the hate, Is it at the stadium or the town? why all thet hate for that place?)

I think you and I were the only two that liked it. It probably has to do with personal experience. I have no idea what being there as a member was like. I had aged out 5 years before. But I spent a lot of quality time at the river boats in Vicksburg and had a blast. Also wondered around the country side and saw stuff like the Natchez Trace, etc.

I didn't even mind the stadium as a fan. Had good seats on about the 45.

Everyone else seems to have hated it though. There is also a lot of hate for Dallas. I admit the Cotton Bowl is not ideal but I had a blast there also.

[cowtown]

I liked Dallas too

Loved wandering around the old exhibit buildings, I think it was left over from some Pan-Am expo / world fair type of thing - stadium was OK, not great, not bad

Prior to Lucas – I’d say the worst stadium was Rosebowl due to the buzz and how long it took to get in and out of the stadium and parking lot (but the food was great) and then that place where they had finals in Boston in 94 where it seemed like the stadium was sinking into the ground plus it was really far from downtown in a very run down area. I think it was Deedhum or somewhere where I stayed but I did find a cool tiki bar

[TheLoudOne]

Jackson MS.

Thread over.

I agree.

It's not even close.

[Bob984]

OK. You're saying DCI is wrong that a) 2007 was the highest recorded paid attendance since DCI has been keeping track and/or b) anything pre-early/mid-90's were guesstimates at best (and over hyping flat-out falsities at worst).

We've probably all been to professional sporting events that looked empty and gasped when the score board presents the attendance for the event. But someone I know that works for an MLB team explained how they do their official attendance and it made sense. I think it's possible (and probable) that in the past non-official counts the guesstimates might've included what DCI/stadium officials think were in the stadium at the time (corps staffs/volunteers, corps members who didn't make Finals that were in the stadium watching from the free seats, etc).

Either way, there is absolutely no way to know what the attendance numbers were in the 70's or 80's at DCI Championships.

And no offense to anyone here, but I trust DCI employees more than fans claiming "I remember the at least 30 thousand people in the stadium at Finals." It's undeniable that the seats were PACKED at the Rose Bowl Finals night, more so than any Championship venue in a long time.

Sir, you are not even close, and your statements indicate that you must be too young...were you even alive during the championships in the 70's and 80's.....I was at the Rose Bowl.....it was a good crowd, but absolutely not even remotely close to crowds at championships in places such as Montreal, Madison, and Denver in the 70's/80's where I also was.........yep, members and corps people get in free, but DCI doesn't comp THAT many people..........enough said..........I do not deny that Rose Bowl attendance was very good and better than it had been in awhile, but it wasn't close to the top..........

GB

[perc2100]

Sir, you are not even close, and your statements indicate that you must be too young...were you even alive during the championships in the 70's and 80's.....I was at the Rose Bowl.....it was a good crowd, but absolutely not even remotely close to crowds at championships in places such as Montreal, Madison, and Denver in the 70's/80's where I also was.........yep, members and corps people get in free, but DCI doesn't comp THAT many people..........enough said..........I do not deny that Rose Bowl attendance was very good and better than it had been in awhile, but it wasn't close to the top..........

GB

Lol; yes I was alive in the 70's & 80's

You can say/believe what you want, but I'll take DCI officials' word when it comes to attendance figures. Is it POSSIBLE that some of the finals in the 70's/80's had higher (PAID) attendance than the Rose Bowl? Of course it is; DCI did not even really attempt to keep attendance records back then from what DCI officials have said. Was the attendance (PAID) DEFINITELY higher at Montreal, Madison, Denver, etc. than the Rose Bowl? We will never really know. I'm (we're) told by DCI that any attendance numbers reported pre-early/mid-90's were guesses at best and flat out BS at worst (I was told some of the years, attendance figures reported at Finals were literally taken by someone poking their head out of the window of a press box, looking around the stadium and saying "looks like 30,000 to me").

Again, I'll take DCI officials' accounts on records over fans with rose-colored glasses any day of the week. I don't care how crowded the stadiums have been at certain DCI venues, the FACTS are that DCI did not take ANY kind of accurate attendance records prior to the 1990's, so this "argument" is ridiculous. I'm not saying that the Rose Bowl venue produced the highest attendance ever; I'm saying the Rose Bowl produced the highest paid attendance recorded by DCI. That is indisputable, and I'm pretty sure DCI officially stated the same thing at the time. I'm also saying that any attendance pre-1990's 1) does not reflect paid attendance only, 2) is not evenly remotely close to 'official' and 3) is not even remotely close to accurate.

[MoonHill]

Sir, you are not even close, and your statements indicate that you must be too young...were you even alive during the championships in the 70's and 80's.....I was at the Rose Bowl.....it was a good crowd, but absolutely not even remotely close to crowds at championships in places such as Montreal, Madison, and Denver in the 70's/80's where I also was.........yep, members and corps people get in free, but DCI doesn't comp THAT many people..........enough said..........I do not deny that Rose Bowl attendance was very good and better than it had been in awhile, but it wasn't close to the top..........

GB

Somehow, I'm going to wind up taking the numerical records kept by an organization whose tax burden depends largely on the accounting of their income slightly more seriously than the memory of someone who was in the crowd...

No offense meant, btw.

[Quadman1]

I'll throw in my vote for Miami. Bad part of town, and I recall some horns were stolen at finals. Practicing and performing in South Florida in August was miserable. By the time finals came around that field was thrashed. It was a serious disappointment after Montreal (even with the reverb in the dome).

I've seen many comments about Jackson, but nobody's said a word about Birmingham.

Birmingham (Legion Field) was ok in 1979 as the weather was tolerable and the corps were great, but it turned into a freakin' sauna in 1980. There was a killer heat wave across the southern U.S. that year from Arizona to Florida. Elderly people without air conditioning died by the hundreds from late July through mid August. At least it didn't rain in Birmingham.

I stopped to visit friends in Dallas (Plano) on the way to Birmingham and it was about 100 degrees there. Alabama was like a swamp. The corps souvenir sales were set up underneath the north stands of the stadium and it felt like the engine room on a WWII battleship steaming along past the Solomon Islands. What made the weather bearable was the amazing drum corps we saw that year, possibly the best top 7 (from an entertainment perspective) in DCI history.

Legion Field had no parking and was located in a rather sketchy part of town. In 1980 I ran into someone with 4 extra tickets for finals exactly on the 50 yard line and about 3 rows in front of the TV broadcast crew's booth (which was set up in the main stands, just where the upper deck began to cover the lower deck). Nothing sticks in my mind like (i) the sheer wall of sound produced by Spirit of Atlanta in "Let It Be Me"; (ii) the antics of Dan Veerhusen, Madison's DM, at the end of "Through the Eyes of Love" when he got a drink of water and took a picture of the final set as the horn line held the final note for what seemed like minutes; (iii) the amazing Santa Clara Vanguard "High Quad" section; (iv) the best overall drum corps the Bridgemen ever put on the field; (v) 27th Lancers' magnificent drill and color guard; and (vi) the flawless horn playing and marching of the Blue Devils.

I have to agree with you regarding South Florida in 1983. That was a horrible experience. We stayed in Lauderdale Lakes in a gym with air conditioning set at about 68 degrees and an outside temp of 95 with 90% humidity. I ended up getting seriously ill in Finals week, but I toughed it out. At prelimis I was so spaced out that I left my plume and my timbale sticks at the high school. There was ZERO parking anywhere near the Orange Bowl. My parents flew over from L.A. and my mom spent much of the finals night in the air conditioned womens restroom at the Orange Bowl. The week before we were in St. Petersburg (staying at St. Petersburg Catholic H.S.) and there were cockroaches all over the gym and locker rooms. We did a show at Clearwater where there was a long rain delay (27 was also at that show), and it felt like 100% humidity. Just a disgusting environment for drum corps.

[argonaut]

2005 - Foxboro, MA was my least favorite. The stadium was not good for drum corps and the stadium staff was extremly rude. Not to mention $25 to park at the stadium out in the middle of nowhere.