Restructuring the DCI BOD

[Jeff Ream]

Marching Music's Major League*

*For All Groups That Are Independent Non-Scholastic Groups, So Please Disregard This Point In Comparison To Scholastic Groups... Because Some Are.. Wel... Kinda Better.

so some are better? Doesnt mean anything in terms of how DCI is marketed.

Bud is the King of beers, but there are many better beers out there.

[Jeff Ream]

So, a guy is drafted... and then they teach him how to play the game?

DRUM CORPS SHOWS

yes. They have to teach him how the pro game works, maybe correct bad techniques he picked up in college, teach him to train better/smarter....the education doesnt end because someone made the NFL.

and DCI's mission is far more than drum corps shows. using caps doesnt make your point anymore valid, it just makes you look like some RAMD posters

[perc2100]

Bud is the King of beers, but there are many better beers out there.

And as far as I know Bud has no royal affiliations of any type.

The world would indeed be interesting (and comical) if ad slogans were supposed to be taken as factual(one good ex: = the movie "Invention of Lying" where a Pepsi ad reads: 'Pepsi: when they don't have Coke')

[danielray]

a) The Olympics have adults, as well as youth, participating in the performance activities;

b) While there are paid pros in the Olympics, they are not paid to participate in the Olympics;

c) The Olympics are not billed as, nor marketed as, a Major League but as performers representing their home countries at an international event every four years;

d) All Major Leagues (PGA, NASCAR, MLB, NFL, MLB, NBA, ad infinitum)consist of Adult Professionals who are paid by each respective team.

When you capitalize Adult Professionals like that... has a bit of a different feel, doesn't it?

Anyway, I would love for kids to participate someday with the same level of compensation as Olympic athletes... no cash, but expenses paid... and loads of schwag.

Major corporate sponsors are definitely the way forward in reducing costs of participation and creating greater stability overall... but there are more than a few tweaks to be made in order to attract higher-level sponsors... and one of them is a minimum performance level combined tightening up the competition in classes.

[danielray]

so some are better? Doesnt mean anything in terms of how DCI is marketed.

Bud is the King of beers, but there are many better beers out there.

When you have 50% marketshare... there is no question you are king.

[danielray]

and DCI's mission is far more than drum corps shows. using caps doesnt make your point anymore valid, it just makes you look like some RAMD posters

I was not using caps.... DCI's mission statement is written in all caps. It honestly is. 3 words in all caps.

[Stu]

When you capitalize Adult Professionals like that... has a bit of a different feel, doesn't it?

Anyway, I would love for kids to participate someday with the same level of compensation as Olympic athletes... no cash, but expenses paid... and loads of schwag.

Major corporate sponsors are definitely the way forward in reducing costs of participation and creating greater stability overall... but there are more than a few tweaks to be made in order to attract higher-level sponsors... and one of them is a minimum performance level combined tightening up the competition in classes.

See Bold: Herein lies a few of your fallacies concerning wanting kids in DCI to have the Olympic experience: a) Not all Olympics participants are youth, many performers are adult professionals; b) The Olympics occur once every four years which allows the collection of enough corporate revenue to handle the expendatures; and c) The Olympics represent a competition of Country against Country, not individual team against individual team like a Major League.

And as for the term Major League: within DCI it is *just* a marketing ploy; nothing more. Because while the top WC DCI corps might well have the best youth marching performers, in all other Major Leagues, *all* others, the teams actually consist of the best Professional Adult Players who are paid well by each individual team.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Stu

[Stu]

the minor leagues in baseball are educational,and the players there get paid.

True; but Major Symphonies have youth educational outlets. What I was attempting to get at is that the ideas of danielray might work within the context of DCI WC being the paid pro Major league and the DCI OC being the youth educational outlet (not the minor league as in MLB). Sort of a fusion between the Major Symphony and Major League Baseball ideas (along the lines of the PGA). However, I think that most of us agree that the DCI WC could not currently sustain paid professional participants.

[danielray]

See Bold: Herein lies a few of your fallacies concerning wanting kids in DCI to have the Olympic experience: a) Not all Olympics participants are youth, many performers are adult professionals; b) The Olympics occur once every four years which allows the collection of enough corporate revenue to handle the expendatures; and c) The Olympics represent a competition of Country against Country, not individual team against individual team like a Major League.

And as for the term Major League: within DCI it is *just* a marketing ploy; nothing more. Because while the top WC DCI corps might well have the best youth marching performers, in all other Major Leagues, *all* others, the teams actually consist of the best Professional Adult Players who are paid well by each individual team.

You're reading too much into what I said....taking it too literal. I'm just saying it would be nice to increase revenues so drum corps can be cheaper... and kids with talent, but not financial resources can participate.

As it is... there are loads of kids with the talent and desire.... just not the financial ability. If these kids participated, there would be improved parity within classes.

As mentioned before, I think increased distributions to corps (through increased and diversified revenues, corporate sponsorship, etc.) should include a required reduction of fees for participants and compensation in form of goods/services (related to tour operations/food/fuel/etc.) in addition to cash.

[danielray]

True; but Major Symphonies have youth educational outlets. What I was attempting to get at is that the ideas of danielray might work within the context of DCI WC being the paid pro Major league and the DCI OC being the youth educational outlet (not the minor league as in MLB). Sort of a fusion between the Major Symphony and Major League Baseball ideas (along the lines of the PGA). However, I think that most of us agree that the DCI WC could not currently sustain paid professional participants.

I don't think kids should be paid.... would be great if costs of participation can come down. This, alone, would raise the quality of corps across the board.

I'm not even thinking of open class being the educational outlet.... if you limit WC to 15 and OC to 15... the other corps filling the sort of educational role could maybe better fill that role outside of the distraction of a touring environment... outside of DCI all together. DCI could lend some support in some way... but should not run these shows or focus on this activity.

Again, I don't think that increasing participation will come through DCI focusing on more smaller corps and hoping they'll grow into larger ones later... but to help reduce the costs of participation in the proposed 30 WC and OC corps in order to improve the level of performance.