NCAA and Drum Corps

[Kamarag]

If you watched or read any of the coverage concerning Nebraska's probably move to the Big Ten, athletics and money has only a little to do with it. Nebraska is a research school, and wants to align itself with other excellent research schools, and the Big Ten is a conference of research institutions. ESPN had a really good interview with Nebraska AD Tom Ocbourne last night where he talks about it.

[RLamb]

If you watched or read any of the coverage concerning Nebraska's probably move to the Big Ten, athletics and money has only a little to do with it. Nebraska is a research school, and wants to align itself with other excellent research schools, and the Big Ten is a conference of research institutions. ESPN had a really good interview with Nebraska AD Tom Ocbourne last night where he talks about it.

Do you REALLY think any of this would happen if athletics and money were not involved? I'll believe Tom Osbourne when he tells us the research professors will be paid on the same level as the football and basketball coach. I'd believe it if they would agree to pay the professors even 10% of what these coaches make.

IT'S ABOUT THE MONEY for the elite few!

[AlexL]

If you watched or read any of the coverage concerning Nebraska's probably move to the Big Ten, athletics and money has only a little to do with it. Nebraska is a research school, and wants to align itself with other excellent research schools, and the Big Ten is a conference of research institutions. ESPN had a really good interview with Nebraska AD Tom Ocbourne last night where he talks about it.

I call BS. If it were about academics, other schools would be involved before nebraska. For example, iowa state, which is ahead of NU in the academic rankings, or the fact that the PAC-10 is willing to dilute its academic standing by allowing Oklahoma State and Texas Tech into their conference.

Edited June 11, 2010 by AlexL

[madscout96]

Looks like all the NCAA conference shuffling is done, and only 2 schools moved. Cooler heads prevailed! (Or it was affordable to do so financially)

[SF2K4]

Now I'm not saying anything when I say this... but the SEC revenue shares and we seem to kick plenty of ### year-in year-out... just sayin'.

[NashvillePat]

Now I'm not saying anything when I say this... but the SEC revenue shares and we seem to kick plenty of ### year-in year-out... just sayin'.

Amen... GO BIG ORANGE!!!

[BOBSMYTH]

I am convinced that the G7 corps see themselves like the universities at the NCAA level. That way they can view themselves as free and independent organizations who can choose how and where (and under what circumstances) to perform and participate.

There are a couple of points where this analogy breaks down.

The schools who have moved or who were considering moving were not moving outside of the NCAA, they were moving amongst individual competitive conferences. Nebraska decided that it no longer wanted to be part of the Big12 and moved to the Big10 (which now has 12 members???).

That would be like SCV saying they no longer want to be part of the DCI Pacific Division and instead want to only compete in the DCI Central division. (I guess if they really wanted to, they could do that now with no need for a G7 proposal.)

The G7 corps are saying they want to do something outside of or beyond DCI sanctioning. And, that "something" will likely not be the same thing they do inside DCI (if they choose to also participate there).

That is like Texas saying we'll play football inside the NCAA and we also want to have our football team play lacrosse on the side at the same time.

And, we will choose when our football team will be a football team and when our football team will be a lacrosse team.

And, the lacrosse matches will be completely under our control not a part of the NCAA lacrosse program.

But, we don't want to lose any of the rights and privileges of being a full fledged NCAA football team.

Actually, because we are Texas and are so important to the NCAA as a football "top act", we actually want an increase in those rights and privileges and we also want more money.

And, while you're at it, can you make all of those other Division II and III football teams go away. They just distract the NCAA offices from focusing on us - Texas.

And, while you're at it, can we cut the NCAA offices by 50% and give us all the money savings.

And, while we're at it, we'll take a larger cut of that BCS money, too.

And, we want the NCAA to get a new CEO.

Because we are Texas.

Edited June 19, 2010 by BOBSMYTH

[BRASSO]

I am convinced that the G7 corps see themselves like the universities at the NCAA level. That way they can view themselves as free and independent organizations who can choose how and where (and under what circumstances) to perform and participate.

There are a couple of points where this analogy breaks down.

The schools who have moved or who were considering moving were not moving outside of the NCAA, they were moving amongst individual competitive conferences. Nebraska decided that it no longer wanted to be part of the Big12 and moved to the Big10 (which now has 12 members???).

That would be like SCV saying they no longer want to be part of the DCI Pacific Division and instead want to only compete in the DCI Central division. (I guess if they really wanted to, they could do that now with no need for a G7 proposal.)

The G7 corps are saying they want to do something outside of or beyond DCI sanctioning. And, that "something" will likely not be the same thing they do inside DCI (if they choose to also participate there).

That is like Texas saying we'll play football inside the NCAA and we also want to have our football team play lacrosse on the side at the same time.

And, we will choose when our football team will be a football team and when our football team will be a lacrosse team.

And, the lacrosse matches will be completely under our control not a part of the NCAA lacrosse program.

But, we don't want to lose any of the rights and privileges of being a full fledged NCAA football team.

Actually, because we are Texas and are so important to the NCAA as a football "top act", we actually want an increase in those rights and privileges and we also want more money.

And, while you're at it, can you make all of those other Division II and III football teams go away. They just distract the NCAA offices from focusing on us - Texas.

And, while you're at it, can we cut the NCAA offices by 50% and give us all the money savings.

And, while we're at it, we'll take a larger cut of that BCS money, too.

And, we want the NCAA to get a new CEO.

Because we are Texas.

And to keep the analogy going, Texas gets to select all the referees ( judges ) for their games against the other teams. I'm sure that would go over well with the other opponents in and out of the B12 Conference.

[jwillis35]

Well, the Big 12 is now the Big Ten, and the old Big Ten, which was 11, is now the Big 12, and the Pac 10 is also the Pac 12. The SEC, ACC, and Big East have, to this point, been unscathed, but danger is looming.

The difference between the NCAA and DCI is money, the number of colleges that compete in sports, and the sheer number of sports that each college partakes in.

DCI is small. It represents a very small base of drum corps, mostly American corps that compete in a summer national tour that brings in low attendance numbers (compared to the NCAA, and especially football), relatively little exposure (with the exception of band kids and diehards), and it generates chump change and very little gate fee for the corps.

Regardless of how you split the pie, there is not much to be split.

The one similarity between the NCAA moves and the DCI/G7 proposal has to do with control. The drum corps control DCI because they are DCI, and college presidents control the conferences and the NCAA because they are the NCAA. Texas and Ohio State are big enough to start their own conference out of the NCAA and they could easily get folks to join. The NCAA would be at a disadvantage. They [NCAA] were created by the colleges, not the other way around.

This is exactly how the G7 sees it. They control DCI. But not all drum corps are on their side. Could enough corps stay together under the umbrella of DCI while letting G7 corps go their own way? Yes. Would DCI still be successful? Yes, but not without major overhauls in its operations. Could the G7 be successful on their own? Not sure. Probably, but they would need other corps to jump ship and they need some serious connections and marketing abilities when it comes to tour, shows, gate fees, and a "hook" to their brand of tour.

[audiodb]

I'm not sure the G7 believe they need other corps to "jump ship". They seem to think that running their own separate shows is a better idea than mixing it up with everyone else.