SkyRyder_FMM Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Interesting. Here are two issues I see right off the bat: 1) In the current structure, many corps are reluctant to come out after 4 weeks of rehearsal. Cutting that to 2 would mean more incomplete shows or a serious change in the depth and quality of shows being performed. 2) In addition to performance fees, corps benefit from the fact that show sponsors provide housing to the corps. If you eliminate all weekday shows (Mon-Thu) the cost of that housing would be passed on to the corps, driving up dues. You are spot on with housing. No show, no housing. Then there is the bus lease. Attempting to lease for such a schedule may prove more costly, and logistically may be exceptionally challenging (i.e., the corps may not be able to find bus companies willing to lease weekends only for every weekend). Further, the weekend performances cover significant distances, which may end up exceeding maximum drive times. This means splitting thee trip up into multiple days (so it's not really weekend only, and you are on your own to find housing while you deadhead). Once you start the bus lease, the best course of action financially is to perform, perform, perform. You get a pay day, you get souvenir sales, you get a night of free housing, and you have a stop along the way to your next destination. Shorter drives between shows, and minimizing overall tour milage is the best way to reduce costs. Don't forget food. You still have to feed the kids, staff, and volunteers, so whether you tour or not, there is no change to the food budget line item. If there were more corps and more shows, corps would not have to travel to far to find a gig and they could stay more in their region for longer periods of time (which would reduce some costs). Some believe that with fewer corps, a more sustainable model is created. The opposite is true. The few remaining corps have to travel long distances to get to shows to get a pay day and housing. Longer drivers = higher costs. Fewer shows = lower performance fees and souvenir sales and higher housing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 You are spot on with housing. No show, no housing. Then there is the bus lease. Attempting to lease for such a schedule may prove more costly, and logistically may be exceptionally challenging (i.e., the corps may not be able to find bus companies willing to lease weekends only for every weekend). Further, the weekend performances cover significant distances, which may end up exceeding maximum drive times. This means splitting thee trip up into multiple days (so it's not really weekend only, and you are on your own to find housing while you deadhead). Once you start the bus lease, the best course of action financially is to perform, perform, perform. You get a pay day, you get souvenir sales, you get a night of free housing, and you have a stop along the way to your next destination. Shorter drives between shows, and minimizing overall tour milage is the best way to reduce costs. Don't forget food. You still have to feed the kids, staff, and volunteers, so whether you tour or not, there is no change to the food budget line item. If there were more corps and more shows, corps would not have to travel to far to find a gig and they could stay more in their region for longer periods of time (which would reduce some costs). Some believe that with fewer corps, a more sustainable model is created. The opposite is true. The few remaining corps have to travel long distances to get to shows to get a pay day and housing. Longer drivers = higher costs. Fewer shows = lower performance fees and souvenir sales and higher housing. how is it only we seem to see this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 You are spot on with housing. No show, no housing. I really don't want to see a complete show with a bunch of music that is not memorized and a bunch of bodies slamming into each other. I would much rather see something that is clean and well played and partially put together. Please and thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 What if... Move in - June 1 (regulated, like MLB spring training) Finals - 1st weekend in August EVERYONE: 2 weeks for pre-tour... Tour: Regionalized... Less shows. Only do performances with 8+ corps in appearances. Shows on weekends ONLY (Friday - Sunday). Conferences: Pacific Conference (Blue Devils, SCV, Cascades, Pacific Crest, Oregon Crusaders, Mandarins), Midwest Conference (Phantom Regiment, Cavaliers, Bluecoats, Colts, Pioneer, Madison Scouts, Blue Stars), Eastern Conference (Boston Crusaders, Cadets, Carolina Crown, Jersey Surf, Spirit of Atlanta), Southern Conference (The Academy, Blue Knights, Crossmen, Troopers)... These would divide World Class, and Open Class corps. Tour Schedule: JUNE 1 - JUNE 14: Pre-tour (spring training or whatever you call it) JUNE 15 - 28 (depending on the calendar, next 2 weekends): Weekend shows at regionalized stadiums for each conference. (ex. Southern Conference 1st weekend: Friday - Houston, TX, Saturday - Dallas, TX, Sunday - Phoenix, AZ)... Only featuring that region’s corps. JUNE 29 - JULY 15: Allentown weekend (East & Midwest Corps), Denver weekend (Western & Southern corps)... Make one weekend huge drum corps festival. Similar to what they did with extra encore performances with TOC this year. JULY 16 - AUG 1: Move towards Indianapolis. Weekend prior to Finals, have a 2 day prelims/ finals event at UW-Madison, Murfreesboro, TN, or somewhere that could hold this event. Finals still in Lucas Oil Stadium. 2 day event. Semi-Finals (Top 20 from previous weekend’s prelims) play, then top 12 in Saturday night finals. You still need to feed and house the members from move-in through champs. It is difficult to get places to stay for a night or two...how do you find housing for extended periods? Plus, you still need to travel around your region. Not sure how much travel savings there would be. Just some off-the-top questions to consider in such a scenario. Good suggestion though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 (edited) I am all for creativity and innovation. I think a good compromise to get fans back into the stands would be to institute the last 30 seconds of the show to a un-judged caption. Where you play to the audience. That way we could see some of the standing O's that we saw in the past rather than some of the golf claps we see today. Very Few Standing O's. And I mean REAL standing O's where babies are being thrown are around any more. The few I can think of in recent years were 2008 Phantom and 2011 Carolina Crown. Both of those shows had the crown up and off their feet long before the show was over and well after the show was over. You just don't see much of that any more. Attendance has been increasing for all of DCI's main events the past few years. And do you think modern designers feel inhibited by the judging community? Do you think they would change their designs simply because they aren't judged? "If only they werent judged THEN they could "entertain"!!" I don't think any of that will increase attendance but simply undermine the competitive structure of DCI which IS a huge interest for a lot of fans. (Why else do people cheer when Crown beats BD?) Edited December 9, 2013 by charlie1223 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Attendance has been increasing for all of DCI's main events the past few years. And do you think modern designers feel inhibited by the judging community? Do you think they would change their designs simply because they aren't judged? "If only they werent judged THEN they could "entertain"!!" I don't think any of that will increase attendance but simply undermine the competitive structure of DCI which IS a huge interest for a lot of fans. (Why else do people cheer when Crown beats BD?) because they hate BD? (only going off what we're told on here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 (edited) Attendance has been increasing for all of DCI's main events the past few years. And do you think modern designers feel inhibited by the judging community? Do you think they would change their designs simply because they aren't judged? "If only they werent judged THEN they could "entertain"!!" I don't think any of that will increase attendance but simply undermine the competitive structure of DCI which IS a huge interest for a lot of fans. (Why else do people cheer when Crown beats BD?) Well, if you ask some BD honks here, it's because it's BD. I don't know if "inhibited" is the right phrase. Do I think they are "influenced" by each other. Yes, isn't that the nature? Were you around during the timing-gun days? Edited December 9, 2013 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 (edited) Actually there's lots of design and performance that's not being judged even today. It just comes at the beginning rather than the end of the show. (See, for instance, the first 90 seconds of this year's show by the Cadets.) Edit: revisiting this thread, I am reminded that the preshow can be judged for GE. Edited December 9, 2013 by N.E. Brigand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Attendance has been increasing for all of DCI's main events the past few years. And do you think modern designers feel inhibited by the judging community? Do you think they would change their designs simply because they aren't judged? "If only they werent judged THEN they could "entertain"!!" I don't think any of that will increase attendance but simply undermine the competitive structure of DCI which IS a huge interest for a lot of fans. (Why else do people cheer when Crown beats BD?) Yes I feel strongly that every little tid bit you see on the field is played for the judging community now days. That's what the designers are getting paid for and you can bet a pretty penny after they hear the judges tapes and read through the sheets on Monday morning they are trying to squeeze in any fix they can to accommodate the judges requests/demands. Is GE something that is something that is suppose to be for the audience??? Yeah you betcha. But I think most of that has gotten lost over the past 10 years or so. Did you happen to catch any of the TOC shows a couple of years back? Did you notice the music the corps played at the end of the shows in their stand still exhibition? It wasn't some unrecognizable piece of abstract art that you had to be a music major to understand and you did not need a music educator sitting next to you to explain it to you. It was just throw down and play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 (edited) The same list: What does this say about drum corps? . . . . that there is rough balance between young and old? . . . . that the real mystery is what killed off all the corps born between 1977 and 1985? . . . that the past four, economically miserable, years contain the most corps representation? What, exactly, is Mr. Hopkins' point? If there is something obvious in the list, it escapes me. Edited December 9, 2013 by 2muchcoffeeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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