Are Championships too expensive?

[Jeff Ream]

still not over Hop running over your cat are ya :tongue:/> lol

the amount of time Hop puts into C2 is pretty limited. So, my point here has little to do with him.

[Jeff Ream]

Many of whom probably dont even need a hotel in annapolis.... I know I could be involved with cadets2 (distance wise), but wouldn't bother with a hotel if I was going to the show. Certainly not for 3 or 4 nights anyway. Plus, i'm guessing a lot of them are college aged...or older (yes, I saw plenty of 14-17 year olds as well in the corps)

So yeah, they probably will follow the "Reading" model sometime in the near future. Personally, I cant imagine DCA without the hotel experience, but thats just my personal preference. With them being responsible for so many kids, I can understand why they dont want to do a hotel situation though. You get into some awkward situations with a corps that is pseudo - "youth based", yet has members as old as 25....all sleeping behind closed doors - and drum corps aren't set up like HS bands in terms of Chaperones.

Oh I agree that all of the kids could be an issue,...but hell many a DCA corps has had that issue for years.

But...DCA can't make special rules for just one corps, and the rest play by a different set of rules.

[Jeff Ream]

Well the director of C2 was at Bucs for quite a few years so he knew what all was involved with Championships weekend.

just because Rich taught the drumline doesn't mean he was in on all of the inner workings of DCA championships weekend. Is it so hard to get that staff often aren't involved in that stuff? Bucs have Jimmy and the committee for that stuff. I don't remember ever seeing Rich's name there. His job was to show up every week and make the corps better and write awesome beats!

[drilltech1]

when you reserve rooms for DCI in Indy, you go through DCI. Now because the corps arent staying at thehotels, they can't do nearly as much of a guarantee because who knows early on what attendance will be right? So trust me, you pay a lot more for the rooms.

DCA has the same issue with planning for fans...you can't guarantee what attendance will be. But knowing that the corps have hotels guaranteed, it does help pass on some savings ( usually) to the fans. I know for all of the years in Rachacha or Scranton, I paid less at the Comfort Suites than I would have had I gone there even a week later.

Jeff,

Your answer is incomplete and in a ways is very out of date.

As Indianapolis and now much of Indiana has gone to a school calendar that begins classes before DCI even arrives in town, more and more DCI corps have no choice but to stay in hotels/motels for at least the weekday nights of the championships. Only now are the corps beginning to use that to their advantage as they book the banquet halls of these hotels for their end of season banquets on Sunday before the corps membership disperses.

Greater Indianapolis (Marion County) and environs is larger than either water-locked Annapolis or Rochester, so there is a bit of a greater flexibility for corps to spread out in four directions, not merely two or three.

But Indianapolis is also a perpetual convention city and their hotels do not have down seasons. The push of the Indianapolis folks to bring every youth organization (sports, music, etc.) to headquarter there from NCAA to fraternities to church groups was part of the reasoning why the Board of WGI has voted several times not to heed the invite to Indy but to stay planted in Dayton, Ohio, an hour away on the Interstates.

No matter what the season, Indy hotel rates are expensive no matter what the number of star-ratings. But DCI does not offer the lowest rates and fewer and fewer fans use them for a package. Friends of DCI (the rich givers) and those in the box suites stay in Downtown hotels through DCI; everyone else commutes but ends up paying for parking. .

Edited August 29, 2013 by drilltech1

[Kamarag]

Jeff,

Your answer is incomplete and in a ways is very out of date.

As Indianapolis and now much of Indiana has gone to a school calendar that begins classes before DCI even arrives in town, more and more DCI corps have no choice but to stay in hotels/motels for at least the weekday nights of the championships.

Really? Which ones? Be specific, please.

Friends of DCI (the rich givers) and those in the box suites stay in Downtown hotels through DCI; everyone else commutes but ends up paying for parking. .

Well, that's not even remotely true. I've always booked my Indy accommodations (I didn't make it this year) myself, and I've had no problems at all staying within a two minute walk of the stadium at a very reasonable rate. I don't know many folks that *didn't* stay in town and walk. Indy is a convention city, but it is by no means an expensive one. In fact, my money has stretched farther in Indy than it has in most other cities DCI has held championships in with the exception of Orlando (I used to live there).

[drilltech1]

Really? Which ones? Be specific, please.

Well, that's not even remotely true. I've always booked my Indy accommodations (I didn't make it this year) myself, and I've had no problems at all staying within a two minute walk of the stadium at a very reasonable rate. I don't know many folks that *didn't* stay in town and walk. Indy is a convention city, but it is by no means an expensive one. In fact, my money has stretched farther in Indy than it has in most other cities DCI has held championships in with the exception of Orlando (I used to live there).

1.Crown, Cadets, BD, Blue Saints, are at least four that I know of who could not get school accomodations due to the new calendar. Others rented college dorms or other university facilities at university prices, SCV, Colts, etc. Refer to the DCI website/news for a better listing although it is not totally accurate from my experience of also being there at Championships and visiting with several of the corps.

For instance, the Cadets are listed as Knightstown H.S. but only practiced there as school was in session. Ditto with Crown who housed at one place and practiced at Avon around the school schedule, etc. etc. There were a number of corps thus effected http://www.dci.org/n...97-b98772f79bfb (Aug. 6, 2013).

2. Your experience and mine may differ. Some people's business accounts, loyalty cards, AARP membership, AAA, and other perk groups may get them better deals than the general public rack rate. I have been at all the five Indy championships and have been involved with several of the corps is trying to find them housing. Nothing I have said is untrue. It may just not be your experience which is singular and yours.

Your budget for what you consider affordable may also be different based on your income. I met a bus load of folks who were staying in Dayton and it was still cheaper. Same with the crew who stayed in Shelbyville, Indiana a 40 minute drive. Those who stay at Carmel, Fishers, or at the Indianapolis airport all have at least a half hour drive each way..

3. I observe that you have had a tendency to prefer to be aggressive and fight on the threads. I am not interested in that, only facts not power plays which is why I generally don't reply to your posts, even those I might agree with. I am out of this argument.

Edited August 29, 2013 by drilltech1

[Kamarag]

I observe that you have had a tendency to be aggressive and fight on the threads. I am not interested in that, only facts not power plays.

Not at all. I'm only interested in facts. I asked about which corps because outside of Devils, I had no idea who stayed where (don't really care, to be honest).

I agree that different people have different ideas of what "affordable" means. But then, there's a certain crowd that cries at any room over $50 a night, which isn't "affordable" so much as it is "ridiculous". Last year I booked my DCA room at the last minute, and stayed near BWI for very cheap. This year we booked early via Hotels.com and are staying in town for about the same price.

I still maintain that Indy is one of the most affordable championships sites DCI has ever been. I've been going pretty much every year, with a couple of exceptions, since I aged out in 1989. I've even book rooms in years I've been teaching, so I've got some pretty good first-hand evidence. Like you said, facts, not power plays.

A piece of advice from a long-time DCP poster: Relax, and don't take things personally. You'll last a lot longer.

[JimF-LowBari]

DCA has the same issue with planning for fans...you can't guarantee what attendance will be. But knowing that the corps have hotels guaranteed, it does help pass on some savings (usually) to the fans. I know for all of the years in Rachacha or Scranton, I paid less at the Comfort Suites than I would have had I gone there even a week later.

Still not sure what the deal is with corps having/not having to reserve a certain of rooms so following rant may not apply. In my mind if a corps doesn't need rooms at all for whatever reason then they should not have to be held accountable for making sure a hotel gets money for the "good of the event". For all the talk about DCA corps not having to spend money on amps, etc, etc it's hypocritical if they have to set part of their budget for hotel that the corps might not need.

To compare it to my local chapter of Antique Auto Club of America it would be like the chapter head said "We're going to the National meet in Charlotte. We have to pay for X number of rooms of anyone goes or not".

Way I see it, fans are either coming or not coming and doesn't matter if deals are cut with DCA. If they don't like the deal at a hotel they are free to look around. Hell of a lot easy with certain websites than the old days of AAA book or a bunch of long distance calls. Doubt if anyone is saying "DCA didn't cut deals with the hotels, screw it I'm staying home". Or gee sure nice of corps X to spend that money so my hotel room was cheaper... too bad they can't afford to be on the field next year....

Edit: Still trying to make sense out of how hotels set rates for certain days and/or events going on in the area. Seen some jack up the rate if rooms are hard to find and some have some rooms at a cheaper rate if a certain percentage of occupancy is hit. And doubt if all of it depends on deals with local Chamber of Commerce.

Edited August 30, 2013 by JimF-LowBari

[JimF-LowBari]

I agree that different people have different ideas of what "affordable" means. But then, there's a certain crowd that cries at any room over $50 a night, which isn't "affordable" so much as it is "ridiculous". Last year I booked my DCA room at the last minute, and stayed near BWI for very cheap. This year we booked early via Hotels.com and are staying in town for about the same price.

How did ya like that drive....

We were by BWI too last year but this year 3-4 miles from the stadium. One of our group booked so no idea how the places were chosen.

[Kamarag]

How did ya like that drive.... :thumbdown:/>

We were by BWI too last year but this year 3-4 miles from the stadium. One of our group booked so no idea how the places were chosen.

Eh, it wasn't a huge deal. Probably, oh, twenty minutes or so.