Move DCI to Santa Clara!

[skajerk]

But that would poke holes in people's logic about the West Coast. Tempe is right in the middle of the state, right next to Phoenix. Besides the heat in the summer, it's a nice place.

Here's an idea... EL PASO!

[corpsband]

So, it is not quite as common as some folks think for lots of eastern corps and midwestern corps to travel all the way to the west coast, even back then. A few did, sporadically. Outside of the Troopers, who were not all the way west, until Anaheim and SCV started to come east, seeing west coast corps in the east was pretty rare as well.

Nope.

And as I recall, part of the TOC plan diverts extra funds to two of those TOC-8 to travel west. So -- if that's the case -- if the TOC had not been implemented, you might not have seen Cadets/ PR in California this summer.

Another interesting thing to consider. It appears PR found it more financially sustainable to "move-in" directly out west this season. Why would that be? Perhaps traveling West as part of a tour was financially impractical for them.

The DCI Tour works because there's a show "not very far away" tomorrow. And there enough shows to distribute the corps into several separate tours. Going west is pretty much a dead zone until you reach California. Sure there's a show or three in between but not enough to sustain a tour.

Perhaps there will be more Finals out west. But I suspect they'll continue to be few and far between.

Geography sucks.

[soccerguy315]

Tempe's not that close to the border...

right... but Ciudad Juarez is roughly halfway between San Antonio and Tempe.

San Antonio or Denver to the West Coast is twice as far as Allentown to Indy.

for the record, I don't have any problem with DCI finals being on the west coast once every 5 years. I feel strongly that the finals location should rotate and be outside.

[DannyFallon]

DCI Finals should be moved to Camp Randall Stadium and stay there forever!!!!

[CrownBariDad]

DCI Finals should move to the high school stadium next to my house so I can walk to the events and not have to pay for a hotel.

'Nuff said!

[skajerk]

Here's an idea... EL PASO!

Boy! Whoever gave me the red mark needs to get a sense of humor. Geezy creezy! <$1.00 to Eddie Izzard>

Awww!!! Someone took me out of the red! This is for you, whoever you are!

(assuming you're of drinking age )

Edited April 16, 2012 by skajerk

[Plan9]

Boy! Whoever gave me the red mark needs to get a sense of humor. Geezy creezy! <$1.00 to Eddie Izzard>

Embrace the Red...let it wash over you Grasshopper! The green is so...well, pedestrian...so copacetic!

[skajerk]

Embrace the Red...let it wash over you Grasshopper! The green is so...well, pedestrian...so copacetic!

lol!

[GeneralTsoChicken]

Yep.

I think you're missing my point. If you look at the population density map, there's a clear divide between West and East. The DCI tour is almost entirely in the Eastern half of that map. Yes California has a large population and great support for the activity. But California is only a small slice of the western half of that map. The rest of that area is not densely populated at all. If you're going to have a sustainable tour you need to have shows distributed over the entire area (like the eastern half of the map) -- not just at the edge.

Again -- it's clearly not the only factor. But I suspect it is an important one. There aren't a lot of competitive marching programs in Nebraska.

Historical support for drum corps factors in as well. But I suspect you can follow that trail right back to population -- at least to a certain minimum level of density.

As Tso so eloquently pointed out -- there are areas where population density is very high and support for the marching arts is non-existant. So it's clearly not a 1:1 correspondence (although I suspect those denser urban areas *would* support the marching arts if someone made the effort to reintroduce it. ) Did those high density areas once support a large number of corps?

Anyway there's not an exhaustive study or thesis here --- to be honest I just thought the similarity of the two maps was striking.

I get where you are going, but still don't follow. You have not presented enough data, for me to agree with you on this one.

I say that, mostly because we do not have a map that shows what percentage of each facility is filled at each show AND a seperate map that shows total attendees at each show.

Best example:

Siloam Springs, Arkansas used to have a show. That show sold out. I mean HARD sell out. People paid to get in the gates of that tiny high school stadium. They probably got 5-6k in there for their show. Siloam is not a big town, nor is it near a population mecca on your map.

Without calling out cities by name, several shows within 100 miles of Washington DC, New York, and Boston go completely undersold. Sometimes less than the 6k at that tiny show in Arkansas. The venues were bigger and the event happened in your dark spot areas, but were a complete flop.

It isn't until we see the data of attendance that we can see the true correllation to your claims. Personal experience tells me that the midwest, even without competative marching bands and the great plains states (with the same) support these shows better than the Northeast.

[corpsband]

It isn't until we see the data of attendance that we can see the true correllation to your claims. Personal experience tells me that the midwest, even without competative marching bands and the great plains states (with the same) support these shows better than the Northeast.

In my experience Mid-Atlantic shows consistently sell-out. Pretty sure that the Va and NC, SC shows do as well. Not positive about the NE shows but I suspect they are packed full as well.