Stu Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 Don't expect an answer to that question. That's not how trolling works. Not trolling; legitimate question; seeking legitimate responses. Everyone knows DCA's idea of success is much smaller in scale than DCI's. DCA's view of itself is irrelevant to the question. This pertains to those who post in DCP over and over all the ways DCA is supposedly better, how DCI has gone to the dogs, and they desire DCI to emulate DCA. I am just wondering why; when an objective evaluation of all aspects (numbers, attendance, revenue) point the other direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tylercrawford Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 (edited) I was shocked to see such a small crowd at DCA Championships. I've never been to the Championships and I've only attended 2 DCA shows over the years. When you understand what DCA is and who participates in DCA it isn't that hard to see why: Follow the lead of DCA in what way? Providing an affordable, weekend only, all-age outlet for corps? One of the reasons DCA isn't as highly attended is because of the age of the MM. DCI shows are filled with mostly people in the HS through college range which don't typically have the work obligations that the DCA crowd has (which is partly why the crowd is "older") or the MM's parents. I remember when I was in college going to several shows that were 3-4 hours drive to see my other friends march that particular year when they came through the south. There's no way I could do that now during the week with work not to mention I no longer have friends participating at the DCI level because we have all grown-up/aged-out. The people I know doing DCA are on opposite ends of the spectrum: 1 guy I know is a 11th grader at the school I work at who didn't make Spirit and ended up working a lot of the summer to save for tour next year. The others I know are educators/staff on high school programs who can't afford to be gone the entire summer on a staff with a DCI level corps. So the difference in who is on the field and the age of their friends really (to me anyways) say why DCI is more highly attended, because the fans that go can more easily afford to go time-wise. Edited September 4, 2013 by tylercrawford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 (edited) I almost posted this same thing. I was shocked to see such a small crowd at DCA Championships. I've never been to the Championships and I've only attended 2 DCA shows over the years. I honestly have not paid much attention to DCA, but I guess I expected huge crowds and a great following the way people talk. I thought it was more entertaining and "real" drum corps? Nope... less people in the stands for Finals along with less corps at Prelims (compared to DCI) has always been the way. IIRC the attendance in the mid 1970s was 13K or so but only saw that on the album so no idea how accurate. Compare that to DCI numbers and percentage between DCA and DCI might be close to constant over the decades. And having 20+ corps in Prelims is the largest number of corps over the decades too. Edited September 4, 2013 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Eventually, DCI and DCA will merge, imo. Not today, not tomorrow. But it seems inevitable to me, and I've said so for awhile now. Thats where this is all headed. Its no longer a question of " should ", or " If ", its just a matter of " when ", in my opinion. There is value in economy of scale, and the expansion of customer base, diversity of offerings, divisions of Corps with levels of committments, the expansion of age participations, etc... and so forth, as well as the elimination of some overlap and duplicative systems. All under one umbrella. I believe The Cadets organization see this down the road too and have jumped out front to have a Corps in each so that when the merger comes it will be seemless for them. Interesting thought. The Cadets 2 experiment has been interesting to watch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Interesting thought. The Cadets 2 experiment has been interesting to watch. Saw their Finals show from the end zone and interesting how many people in the stands were waving the Hades outta the flags. Just had to wonder how many of them would not be there if C2 was also not there. Enthusiastic as Hades also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 This whole thread is based on one giant strawman argument. A Strawman argument misrepresents, or just completely fabricates, another persons argument to hopefully support a completely different agenda. Example: After Ringo said that we should support saving puppies, Ozzy responded by saying that he was surprised that Ringo hates people so much that he wants people to die instead of puppies. I never created such a strawman; all I asked was why do many people post that DCI should more emulate DCA (and many have touted DCA over DCI) when by all accounts DCI is more successful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 A Strawman argument misrepresents, or just completely fabricates, another persons argument to hopefully support a completely different agenda. Example: After Ringo said that we should support saving puppies, Ozzy responded by saying that he was surprised that Ringo hates people so much that he wants people to die instead of puppies. I never created such a strawman; all I asked was why do many people post that DCI should more emulate DCA (and many have touted DCA over DCI) when by all accounts DCI is more successful? Show me an example of someone stating the position that "DCI should organizationally emulate DCA," or "DCA is better-run than DCI." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seen-it-all Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Show me an example of someone stating the position that "DCI should organizationally emulate DCA," or "DCA is better-run than DCI." Maybe it's one of the "many hundreds of fans" he's been speaking to at shows the past few years. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 People have specifically touted DCA over DCI in a plethora of ways: no electronics, no amplification, more "entertaining", less operational costs, on and on and on... yet by all accounts (number of units, number of participants, show attendance, revenue generated, etc.), DCI is more successful. OK, right. Well, starting next year, DCA will permit pit amplification, so that will no longer be a point of difference. I'm far from convinced that amplification and/or electronics are reasons that DCI has either more corps or a larger audience than DCA. As for entertainment, on the whole, DCA shows are more accessible than DCI shows, I'd guess, because the rules demand it and because they have to be. DCA corps simply can't rehearse as much, and so, knowing they can't achieve at DCI's level, particularly visually, they emphasize musical communication. There may be another way of comparing the two leagues: In 1998, DCI had 56 corps at championships, while DCA had 16. In 2013, DCI had 36 corps at championships, while DCA had 23. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 (edited) I almost posted this same thing. I was shocked to see such a small crowd at DCA Championships. I've never been to the Championships and I've only attended 2 DCA shows over the years. I honestly have not paid much attention to DCA, but I guess I expected huge crowds and a great following the way people talk. I thought it was more entertaining and "real" drum corps? This comment really pisses me off. I know there's people that are really embittered by state of DCI right now (IMO, for both legitimate and illegitimate reasons) and feel like DCA is the closest thing to "real drum corps" (as they see it). This sentiment is not shared by me, or the overwhelming majority of DCA participants though. DCA is a smaller-scale organization that runs shows featuring all-age drum corps. That's it. If you were really expecting a crowd of 50,000 rowdy old-school drum corps fans rocking out to enormous G-hornlines, I'm sorry you're disappointed. Of course the crowds aren't as big as many DCI shows. IT'S BEEN THAT WAY FOR A LONG TIME. I started out at DCI and had the same dismissive view of DCA as you seem to show. But when I started teaching and eventually marching with an all-age group, I started to see the value in it. These groups are so much more accessible than your average DCI corps. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect across-the-board excellence at most DCA shows, but I'm always pleasantly surprised by the amount of growth shown by many corps. Edited September 4, 2013 by ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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