jetman1287 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 (edited) The Olympics is definitely very unique in American sports. Every 2 years, NBC televises sports that most people usually don't care about. For the next 3 weeks they are going to draw significant ratings for sports like bobsled, curling, and ski jumping. Can DCI learn anything from the next few weeks? Our "sport" is not unlike figure skating in many respects. Our performers are just as much, if not more athletic than some of the events shown here today. And I have to believe that more Americans follow drum corps than luge. More people have been involved, have a kid involved, or have seen a competitive marching ensemble than we think. What makes people interested in these sports when normally they don't care? Do we lack legitimacy? Most people see the competitive marching activity and still think of their nerdy, non-competitive school ensemble. How can we change that perception? Maybe the Olympics draws because of the history, and because all of these events are combined. The struggles of some world renowned orchestras have been publicized over recent years. Perhaps there could be a large music event in August, where famous music ensembles can put their marketing brains together and create an experience they'd have trouble pulling off individually. You could have it in different cities every year and have DCI Finals be a part of it. It'd be great to draw on markets with similar artistic interests! That's just an idea that may or may not work - but if NBC can make curling seem exciting every four years, there might be some lessons we could apply to our activity, even if it sparks interest just for Finals. What else do you think we could draw from the Olympics? Edited February 13, 2010 by jetman1287 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 They could learn they need to become a mutli billion dollar tv superpower like NBC who can afford to air the Olympics due to huge revenue from advertisers. They could learn that a multi million dollar opening ceremony in which athletes from all around the world participate gets a lot of people watching in the first place. They could learn that NBC reserves prime time (read, money making) for winter sports with which the public already has a common vocabulary, and that curling and such are relegated to time slots that are far less watched. Hopefully, they realize that describing DCI as a pseudo-athletic event is not the same as saying that most DCI partipants are anywhere near as athletic as anybody in any winter olympic sport other than (possibly) curling. DCI is what it is. Even if DCI became 200% better at advertising it, DCI would still be a niche activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76strad Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 The way I see it personally is that its like this: People (yes some of my friends) know about DCI, but see it as a waste of money to spend 100's-1000's of dollars just to march for one summer. In my view if more open classes were to exist locally then a person can march at alot lower rate, and still have a summer tour. Then of course they would have their own top dog world class that they like. Therefore lots of towns and cities will publish in their papers the latest news of their corps success. Because like in Rutherford County(TN) You have about 8 high schools??? (to lazy to look) You could have people mass a small open class corps from there and therefore people who couldnt afford to go off and go bigger, or join a nearby open class can march at a cheaper rate. Man im rambling haha. Anyways just the fact that World Class became more elite, but it would be pretty cool in my book, if DCI officials would encourage and assisted state county's as a whole to create Corps, to band together to create an open class corps. Ive never marched (still in high school) but it seems to me that everyone talks about the future of Drum Corps, and how we can improve the activity, how to spread it and all. But if major counties in States were assisted in creating an Open Class corps, you would have local high schoolers that may not have alot of money, be able to have an opportunity to march? Over 50 yrs I mean the local Open classes will have grown, younger kids will have heard cool stories about tours and will want to take it up. Its not about putting money towards these corps or making new rules, its about expanding opportunity. By expanding the opportunities then the Organization as a whole will grow. I mean even though some people who start this probably wont live to see the results as they dream, they left something behind to grow on. Just a bit of my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualFan Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 The Olympics are about celebrating national pride through sports. If there were a true drum corps World Championships with 100+ nations sending their best marching musicians, then there would probably be a lot more global interest but not on the scale of the Olympics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 they could soon be lighting the floors and realizing they should have Rush play the closing ceremonies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skajerk Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Jeff wins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Jeff wins! ditto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd Glasgow BB Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 How about for 1 year DCI replace the field with an ice rink...? Just imagine how quick the drill would be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssnapier Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 they could soon be lighting the floors and realizing they should have Rush play the closing ceremonies Apparently several rock bands were cut from the opening ceremony because of the luge death, they felt it would be disrespectful. The rumor is that all or most of those acts will bein the in the new... modified... closing ceremony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybersnyder Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I think a large part of the Olympic success is rooting for "my" team. "My" team is easily defined by the people representing "my" country. If you haven't marched in a particular corps, there is little sense of "my" corps. There is very little variation in placement in DCI. Corps X beats corps Y and it will stay that way through the rest of the season (for the most part). So there's very little thrill of victory and agony of defeat. Right now before seeing any shows we can pick the top five corps with reasonable certainty. But the real killer is that everyone can relate to the Olympics more because everyone has participated in sports or skied or ice skated. Most people's experience with something close to DCI is their local high school's marching band and most of them are not the kind of organizations that inspire you to go out and see more. People can relate to the Olympics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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