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Corps Travel and Expansion


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I honestly think DCA Championships only draws about 5,000 paid fans. It looks bigger from corps who do not make it into Finals, I believe. I realize that number is bigger than 3,500... with the right amount of rain, I could see that happening in Rochester.

and then DCA WOULD BE IN BIG TROUBLE. RAIN IS A GREAT KILLER.

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I was there. I remember one storm shortly before show time...where is this all day rain people speak of? We were out walking the campus most of the day.

part of the problem was $40 ticket prices are not going to draw walk up crowds in an area where people barely know DCI, let alone DCA. Sure, we went down, but there was such an overwhelming amount of hype....and it didn't really pan out

it rained all night in 1975. to be honest the sheets got so wet i don't know if we got the corps placing right. vince said the show was going to be completed. com hell or high water.

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Having run two DCA shows in 2007 & 2008 at Chambersburg, I can tell you that without significant business/patron sponsorship, the numbers are really tough for show committees. Both of our shows had approximately $25,000 budgets, almost all of which was paid for by our regional McDonald's owner. We brought in about the same amount of revenue from each show, so without the strong sponsorship, the shows would have broken even, or taken a loss. Because we did have a sponsor, the band parent group made a lot of money from the shows.

Sponsorship doesn't have to be a single patron. I have seen many shows where there were multiple sponsors, each one sponsoring a corps in the show. Individuals can also be sponsors by purchasing ads in the program. Whatever it takes to have the show paid for ahead of time and not by ticket & concession sales.

I get the impression some may think that significant sponsorship is great if a show committee can find it. I think it is essential and should be in place before the show even leaves the drawing board. "Build it, and they will come" does not apply to running drum corps shows.

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You make good points, Dan.

We must all remember, DCA is not some multinational conglomerate. It does not have the staff to present its big event alone. It relies heavily on a well-prepared local team with the ability to produce much more than revenue from tickets. Ticket revenue is but one source of necessary funding. The other items take 'good boots on the ground' to use current vernacular. The good folks in Rochester HAVE that, Winston-Salem probably had that. Their miscalculations were correctable, I thought.

As an aside, there was a cultural difference in play down in Winston-Salem. The organizing team had a feel of laid back, 'Southern Crawl.' Great people, just not real urgent about things!

Edited by Fred Windish
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I was there. I remember one storm shortly before show time...where is this all day rain people speak of? We were out walking the campus most of the day.

part of the problem was $40 ticket prices are not going to draw walk up crowds in an area where people barely know DCI, let alone DCA. Sure, we went down, but there was such an overwhelming amount of hype....and it didn't really pan out

Jeff, I remember it rained a good part of the afternoon.... the time when local folks are deciding whether to make the trip to see a show.

Like Bob Murray of the Cabs used to tell me... he hated rain during that afternoon period the day of the Grand Prix, because, in his words, it "kills my walkup gate."

And...like Fred said... the Friday night rain washed out what was to have been a "downtown festival" of sorts, geared toward promotion of the drum corps show the next day. We had the Loud Music Symposium indoors... which was a great event... but the outdoor stuff would have been very helpful.

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I do enjoy going to the east for championships each year, since I've joined a DCA corps. I'm not complaining about that. However, I feel it would be beneficial to some of the corps if there was more of a push to host a show in the Cincinnati/Somewhere-in-the-Ohio-Valley-Area. Because it is hard and I feel that it is partially unfair to some of the corps that absolutely have to travel 8+ hours just to get at least one show in before championships. An example, this makes my 3rd season with Cincinnati Tradition, we are only able to go to 2 DCA shows before finals every year. Both shows are 8+ hours of travel away from us, one being in Wisconsin, the other being in Georgia. I have felt that it would be beneficial, not just to our corps, but other corps that are in traveling distance of that area as well. Granted, I don't know why this has not happened yet, but I think that more of the corps should try to travel to some of the areas that have shows with fewer corps at them as compared to the shows that are closer to where a majority of the DCA corps are located at. If we want to expand DCA or try to make it more solid, we have to be willing to get our circuit more exposure. I personally think it would help recruiting for some of the corps if there were more shows being hosted in the areas that the corps are from and if ALL of the corps are willing to travel to these areas at least once or twice during the season to help with this exposure. Yes, I understand money for traveling is harder now than it ever has been. Its just an idea I have tossed around in my head and think it might be something to consider if we want to try to expand and see more corps start to form in our circuit.

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Jeff, I remember it rained a good part of the afternoon.... the time when local folks are deciding whether to make the trip to see a show.

Like Bob Murray of the Cabs used to tell me... he hated rain during that afternoon period the day of the Grand Prix, because, in his words, it "kills my walkup gate."

And...like Fred said... the Friday night rain washed out what was to have been a "downtown festival" of sorts, geared toward promotion of the drum corps show the next day. We had the Loud Music Symposium indoors... which was a great event... but the outdoor stuff would have been very helpful.

Fran is Correct, it rained on and off all day during our rehearsal, And it was disgustingly hot when the rain would stop. Not a pleasant rehearsal day if I remember correctly. It Was a monsoon an hour before the show started but the stadium drained remarkably well and the show went off without a hitch.

It was a fun trip for Bush !

Jay

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Fran is Correct, it rained on and off all day during our rehearsal, And it was disgustingly hot when the rain would stop. Not a pleasant rehearsal day if I remember correctly. It Was a monsoon an hour before the show started but the stadium drained remarkably well and the show went off without a hitch.

It was a fun trip for Bush !

Jay

Jay, one of the things I remember about that weekend was the Friday evening LMS concert indoors.... when you guys basically got off your buses at showtime after the "trip from hell" to North Carolina delayed your arrival... walked into the auditorium with little or no warmup... and did a great job.

That was quite a weekend, indeed!!!

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Jay, one of the things I remember about that weekend was the Friday evening LMS concert indoors.... when you guys basically got off your buses at showtime after the "trip from hell" to North Carolina delayed your arrival... walked into the auditorium with little or no warmup... and did a great job.

That was quite a weekend, indeed!!!

Yeah, we blew a bus tire in BumF.... NC. We called the powers to be at the LMS to inform them we were stuck on the road and they didn't believe us, we had to send a picture from someone's phone to prove it. We arrived almost at the exact time we were to play. We had no time to put the unis on and luckily the trailer arrived the day before so the driver unloaded the whole thing by himself so it was waiting for us at the Convention Center. To say we blew the house down is an understatement.

It was a great trip , BUT we decided that as long as we had weekly competitions in our region, The stress and cost of traveling like we did that weekend was something we wouldn't be interested in doing much, if not at all.

Great times!

Jay

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Fran is Correct, it rained on and off all day during our rehearsal, And it was disgustingly hot when the rain would stop. Not a pleasant rehearsal day if I remember correctly. It Was a monsoon an hour before the show started but the stadium drained remarkably well and the show went off without a hitch.

It was a fun trip for Bush !

Jay

yeah I remember the monsoon, but not the rest.....and I didn't drink all weekend!

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