Ron H Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 (edited) A lot of people who answered, myself included, took that to be about spectators as well corps. Eastern DCA corps are in no way loaded money powerhouses. Far from it. NO drum corps is a loaded money powerhouse these days. Depends on how you define "loaded." MBI has more money in the bank than the other top 9 DCA corps combined. (Well, you'd maybe have to exclude C2 if you count YEA's resources) MBI has the largest budget. Their assests are greater than Phantom Regiment's. This is all on public record if you do the research. They did it based upon financial prudence, diversification of income and on top of that, they can still afford to go out east twice per season. THAT's the model that other DCA corps need to follow if this activity has any chance of long-term survival. Edited September 10, 2013 by Ron H 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I haven't seen this, but if it's already been covered swear under your breaths about old people texting without knowing what's going on. One of the biggest issues with travel for all but the tip-top of the competitive pile is that as a weekend activity you lose a week's rehearsal when you travel. I think that both Reading, Hawthorne, and MBI, judging from how tight the end of 2013 were, could absorb a travel week (i.e. no rehearsal except a couple of hours before the show). Everybody else needs every week from Schools' out through Labor Day to hit their points with their shows. Travel can wreak havoc on a weekend only activity. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Depends on how you define "loaded." MBI has more money in the bank than the other top 9 DCA corps combined. (Well, you'd maybe have to exclude C2 if you count YEA's resources) MBI has the largest budget. Their assests are greater than Phantom Regiment's. This is all on public record if you do the research. They did it based upon financial prudence, diversification of income and on top of that, they can still afford to go out east twice per season. THAT's the model that other DCA corps need to follow if this activity has any chance of long-term survival. http://greatlakesbrewfest.com/main.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zorf Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I haven't seen this, but if it's already been covered swear under your breaths about old people texting without knowing what's going on. One of the biggest issues with travel for all but the tip-top of the competitive pile is that as a weekend activity you lose a week's rehearsal when you travel. I think that both Reading, Hawthorne, and MBI, judging from how tight the end of 2013 were, could absorb a travel week (i.e. no rehearsal except a couple of hours before the show). Everybody else needs every week from Schools' out through Labor Day to hit their points with their shows. Travel can wreak havoc on a weekend only activity. Agreed Ray. But it can also bring a corps together by getting them out of town together and out of routine. Traveling is also a bit of a crapshoot with respect to the quality of rehearsal facilities. We had some great ones and some that were barely tolerable. So, staying home and rehearsing is more of a sure bet, but from a members perspective I was there to perform and today for non east coast corps that means you gotta travel. I give a ton of credit to the MBI staff for creating performance opportunities. For the rest of my life I will cherish the memory of Downington this year. Yeah, it was a literal pain in the ### and the rehearsal after the long bus ride was a SOB. But the chance to share performances with the Buc's that night was priceless. And it was just the corps members and suport staff in attendance. And, we got a read on where we stood and what we had to surpass since as we all know the Buc's have set a standard for a number of years. Dam, it was fun to sit in the stand and listen to them blow down their show. And do you think they might have been a bit motivated to play well for us? So, it isn't fair but it is what it is and until other regions find a way to build the number of corps and performance opportunities, the non NE corps will have to travel more. But I guess what I want to convey is that for the members who ultimately need to bear a part of the additional cost, it is worth it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 This is all on public record if you do the research. It sounds like you've already done the research! Rather than everyone else duplicating your efforts, is there any chanced you could post your findings here as garfield did for the DCI corps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anokaflash Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 It sounds like you've already done the research! Rather than everyone else duplicating your efforts, is there any chanced you could post your findings here as garfield did for the DCI corps? Go to http://www.guidestar.org and search for any non profit. Scroll down and look for the 'Forms 990' tab. There will be a link to PDFs of their most recent tax statements. A very enlightening tour once you start searching different organizations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 It'd be nice to see Bucs, Cabs, etc out west...Empire was supposed to do it a couple of years ago, but finances got in the way... or rather, the lack thereof, if I remember right. But with all the focus on the finances of such a trip, you're all forgetting the logistics of transporting gear, AND people getting time off from work. We all remember work, right? That thing that keeps Sr corps a weekend-only activity? It's not like Crown deciding to tour out to California last year...they were already going to be on the road. Not the case for DCA corps. Bump....since no one seems to be considering this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 This is all on public record if you do the research. It sounds like you've already done the research! Rather than everyone else duplicating your efforts, is there any chanced you could post your findings here as garfield did for the DCI corps? Go to http://www.guidestar.org and search for any non profit. Scroll down and look for the 'Forms 990' tab. There will be a link to PDFs of their most recent tax statements. A very enlightening tour once you start searching different organizations. I just might! But if Ron already has stats on all DCA corps in one place, why reinvent his wheel? FYI, in case you don't follow the DCI forums, this (very long) and this (shorter with pictures) were garfield's analyses from last spring of three years of 990 forms for all DCI World Class corps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 um, we paid for those long distance trips. the problem, which I'm not going into here, was how other funds were used or not used. that's a different story for a different day when I can have a lawyer proofread everything before I hit "add reply" I understand. Family was there at that time. Yes, added fees were assessed for those trips, but.... All I will say as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Maybe I missed a post along the way. Did anyone explain how it is "for the good of the activity" to have corps travel more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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