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As much as I would like to see anything else other than the current format, I don't see it happening unless attendance in Indy takes a huge nosedive. And then that can be justified to a point with the increasing numbers and income generated from the theatre quarterfinal show and the FN webcast. The attendance has decreased in Indy since the first year in 09, but the DCI marketing folks been very clever in keeping the stadium attendance look similar from year to year. As I have mentioned this before, in the past few years, DCI has given a free ticket to finals to the previous year age outs hoping to keep them in the fold AND with the thought that they would not travel alone. So at the very minimum, that would be a BOGO for DCI, but in 09, I knew three age outs who brought six others with them. A very clever idea. Another promotion is handing out flyers at downtown events offering incredibly cheap tickets to finals for local residents. All that was required is a valid ID . There is other ways I won't get into, but I have been to Indy four times, and I have only paid full price one time in four seasons to attend all sessions. And no, I wasn't with a corps at the time, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was part of that official attendance figure.

Remember BITD, DCI had committed to moving the championships every two years? That model seem to work and more importantly, it kept fans generally happy that they would have the chance to see DCI live somewhere in their part of the US (or Canada) every few years. That changed somewhat in the 80's, with a financial failure in Miami in 83, one year in Atlanta and then three in Madison. Kansas City seemed to get us back on that every two year track and we were scheduled to go back to Montreal, but that fell thru and Dallas and Buffalo replaced that period. Shortly after that, DCI had announced there would be four permanent sites on the two year rotation. If I recall correctly, Madison, Orlando, Kansas City and Buffalo were the chosen sites. That never happened and DCI and Disney forged what was touted as a long term relationship, but fans were not going to go to Orlando every year. It was just too far for most fans along with other issues ( housing and weather ). So DCI found a permanent home in Indy, still really far for most fans west of Denver. But DCI does tout that Indy is within 1000 miles from the majority of the US population. And Denver, Houston and Austin nearly fall into that 1000 mile circle.

I compare the Indy agreement to what Orlando might have been in the plans, just in a more central location. A long standing agreement with a lot of monetary support (City of Indy and in Orlando, Disney ) free office space, and a world class stadium (albeit the acoustics) and hosting all of this in your backyard. It almost feels like the only way DCI will ever leave Indy, is that some city will have to bid and offer quite a bit, kind of like the way cities bid for the Super Bowl, political conventions, all star games etc. But the activity doesn't and will never have that type of public interest.

That all being said, we are stuck with Indy. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like out with the old, in (replace them) with the band parents. Coming to a DCI show near you in the future? A full section of woodwinds. It's just a matter of time.

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There are lots of logistics to consider. It's great that SCV and BD, and a few others, have the money and resources to come east and midwest each year, but many east and midwest corps do not always have that ability. It's also extremely hard on scheduling. Basically most of the shows have to be re-worked. Big regional shows get bumped up and others get moved back, and the same is true for local shows. And cost can be incredible for DCI. It all depends on what they get from the city.

Having said that, once every 5 years should be something DCI considers. Four years in Indy, one elsewhere, and so on.

But it would not always be west. I can definitely see Texas again. Dallas, San Antonio, maybe even Austin or Houston. Denver was a good site. Madison is awesome and I know they'd love to have us back. Akron (OH), I believe, needs to bid for a finals. That stadium is fantastic, as all of you can see from the early DCI Cinecast. Honestly, I'd love to see DCI on the blue turf of Boise State (ID). Great city, it's west, big enough I think (both the city and the stadium), but maybe the blue would be too much as a palette under the corps.

These logistics have been worked out in the past. When DCI was in Denver in 04 and Pasadena in 07, the tour schedules were pretty much reversed from east to west. Akron does have a great stadium, but that doesn't solve the travel issue for the western folks. Boise? I don't believe Boise is a airline hub so the travel could be really expensive. That show used to be a biggie in the 70's, a DCI West regional in fact. But the interest there has decreased so much, Bronco stadium hasn't hosted a show since 07 or 08. The show is now at a high school, the smallest rinky dinky stadium I have seen west of the Mississippi. And they couldn't fill that stadium up this year. But then again, I'm in for anything other than Indy every single year.

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As much as I would like to see anything else other than the current format, I don't see it happening unless attendance in Indy takes a huge nosedive. And then that can be justified to a point with the increasing numbers and income generated from the theatre quarterfinal show and the FN webcast. The attendance has decreased in Indy since the first year in 09, but the DCI marketing folks been very clever in keeping the stadium attendance look similar from year to year. As I have mentioned this before, in the past few years, DCI has given a free ticket to finals to the previous year age outs hoping to keep them in the fold AND with the thought that they would not travel alone. So at the very minimum, that would be a BOGO for DCI, but in 09, I knew three age outs who brought six others with them. A very clever idea. Another promotion is handing out flyers at downtown events offering incredibly cheap tickets to finals for local residents. All that was required is a valid ID . There is other ways I won't get into, but I have been to Indy four times, and I have only paid full price one time in four seasons to attend all sessions. And no, I wasn't with a corps at the time, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was part of that official attendance figure.

Remember BITD, DCI had committed to moving the championships every two years? That model seem to work and more importantly, it kept fans generally happy that they would have the chance to see DCI live somewhere in their part of the US (or Canada) every few years. That changed somewhat in the 80's, with a financial failure in Miami in 83, one year in Atlanta and then three in Madison. Kansas City seemed to get us back on that every two year track and we were scheduled to go back to Montreal, but that fell thru and Dallas and Buffalo replaced that period. Shortly after that, DCI had announced there would be four permanent sites on the two year rotation. If I recall correctly, Madison, Orlando, Kansas City and Buffalo were the chosen sites. That never happened and DCI and Disney forged what was touted as a long term relationship, but fans were not going to go to Orlando every year. It was just too far for most fans along with other issues ( housing and weather ). So DCI found a permanent home in Indy, still really far for most fans west of Denver. But DCI does tout <THE FACT> (fixed that for you) that Indy is within 1000 miles from the majority of the US population. And Denver, Houston and Austin nearly fall into that 1000 mile circle.

I compare the Indy agreement to what Orlando might have been in the plans, just in a more central location. A long standing agreement with a lot of monetary support (City of Indy and in Orlando, Disney ) free office space, and a world class stadium (albeit the acoustics) and hosting all of this in your backyard. It almost feels like the only way DCI will ever leave Indy, is that some city will have to bid and offer quite a bit, kind of like the way cities bid for the Super Bowl, political conventions, all star games etc. But the activity doesn't and will never have that type of public interest.

That all being said, we are stuck with Indy. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like out with the old, in (replace them) with the band parents. Coming to a DCI show near you in the future? A full section of woodwinds. It's just a matter of time.

This is not my understanding. Please provide sources and proof of this claim.

You make this sound nefarious. Possibly what they did actually kept attendance relatively inelastic?

But you, yourself, credit this as "clever". Which is it, clever or nefarious?

Again, how is this a bad thing? Isn't selling a ticket at a discount better than not selling a ticket at all? (Is this "evidence" that DCI is doing things to "fudge" the numbers to keep us believing that attendance is inelastic?

Isn't this the way all competitions for conventions works? And doesn't this say that DCI has a pretty good gig in Indy that they shouldn't look down their noses at? If it takes such a good deal to get DCI out of Indy, doesn't that mean they've got a good gig going in Indy? I'm not understanding your logic.

This has been happening in drum corps since school kids started doing drum corps. The average tenure of a fan in a drum corps stadium today is less than 3 years. BITD, it was longer because kids had fewer choices. Today isn't BITD.

And after 3 paragraphs of stating the obvious, you end with this? What's the point of your post. Really! I'm curious!

Edited by garfield
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DCI – Can We look beyond the norm?:

At this time of year we all focus our attention on DCI finals week which is hosted in Indianapolis IN. While it's great for those who reside east of the Mississippi, it's not all that convenient to those who would love to see a live performance Finals Week of their favorite corps who live in the West. As it stands today those who live west of the Mississippi only get to see the early season shows and for the greater Texas area just up to the mid-way point of the season. Many of the shows get changed or revised as the corps move toward the East Coast push (post San Antonio Show) and focus on Finals week so many of the Corps shows are far different from what the West Fan base got to see live early in the season. Yes - things have improved with the FanNetwork and it has provided additional coverage for us West Fans but the overall impact of seeing a live drum corps show is just not there. The FanNetwork has improved and gives you a pretty good taste of how things are evolving but bottom line – THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A LIVE SHOW!!!

My suggestion for DCI:

Every 4 or 5 years host a DCI Finals in the West or West Coast. That gives ample time to prepare and plan ahead for a West DCI Finals. Possible locations could be the Alamodome San Antonio TX, Mile High Stadium Denver, Arlington TX, Stanford CA, Pasadena, CA, Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, etc.... and the list goes on. The corps that normally host shows early in the season would be reversed and their show would be held later for that one year (again - either every 4th or 5th year such as Stanford/Denver/San Antonio). Right now the mid-west/East Corps have a dominance of their fans who come out to DCI INDY each year. Not so much for the Corps from the West (Blue Devils/SCV/Blue Knights/Mandarin/Academy/Pacific Crest/Crossmen/O Crusaders/Cascades/Troopers/etc…). By hosting DCI Finals West every 4 or 5th year it would allow the West Coast Corps an opportunity to have their fan base come to see their shows at the end of the season (versus early in the season when the shows are dirty and some cases not complete - i.e.; Stanford).

This seems like an easy compromise for DCI and it brings in a new fan base of West Coast or West Fans into DCI. In addition it would allow additional International fans to attend the DCI FINALS event (there's that "I" in DCI) from the Pacific Rim countries as well as the newer markets from the Latin based countries in North and South America.

Come on DCI -- Think out of the box. This is doable and expands your overall Fan Base.

I think it's a GREAT idea. When I was stationed in San Diego, I only had the opportunity to see finals ONCE in 7 years when they had finals in Pasadena. So I know how you feel.

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It's a 2:30 flight from New York to Indianapolis.

It's a 3:45 flight from Los Angeles to Indianapolis.

I'm not seeing the big deal.

It's not so much just about finals week, at least not for me. It's about the access to shows throughout the season. The shows out west are the earliest of the season and usually separated by hundreds of miles and several days, especially where I live in the Northwest. Shows back east are much closer together both in distance and time. Fans often have several choices of shows over a few days - with drivable distances inbetween. Add to that the fact that shows are SO much better now than they were in early July.

Holding finals out west would provide some kind of balance to this. I don't suspect east coast people will support or even understand this plight for west coasters but it IS an issue.

Edited by luv4corps
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My sources are two DCI directors who shared w/ me the attendance numbers on separate occasions. Both gave me the same numbers and I have known them many years, so I don't expect them to lie to me. I'm not going to reveal them as we are long time friends and I'm not going to ruin my relationships with them.

I agree their marketing is clever. But this is something that wasn't needed to fill seats in the past.

Selling a discounted ticket is never bad thing. But I believe it is a way to fudge the numbers and make attendance look better than it was projected. For example, I knew a person in the promotion department of a NBA team some time ago. One week before games, I would see her and she would hand me vouchers for two lower level tickets to that game. All I had to do was bring the voucher the day of the game to the ticket office, and they gave me the best seats available for free. It was the norm she would give me 20 vouchers a game and I handed them out to anybody I knew. She told me the owner and GM demanded the lower bowl be full and that they would also instruct their TV crew not to show too many angles of the upper sections. But I have heard from my DCI friends that they have been told the concert side needs to look full for the broadcasts. I myself, have had the benefit of attending three DCI Finals and not paying a dime to get in. I have sat next to folks who paid $125 for their seat and I cannot imagine I'm the only one able to do this. If I told him I paid nothing, ( which I would never do) wouldn't they consider that a slap in the face?

DCI does have a great deal in Indy. But at what expense down the road? The dissatisfaction of long time fans and alums who cannot afford to go to Indy or simply may not want to go as in the case of the OP. He sounds attached to the activity and disappointed at the same time as he cannot see DCI finals in his part of the country for a ten year period.

Conventions and major sporting events are bidded on by cities, but not so much DCI. It is DCI that has to sell itself to a city, explain the activity especially the housing requirements. But now that DCI is firmly in place in Indy, it is much easier to stay put and persuade fans to come to Indy rather than take their show to them and possibly attract new fans who could never justify going to what they may call a "band" show in Indiana.

So you ask for my point and that is to the OP, I don't ever expect a change of venue will happen. This is one step away (woodwinds) from being a true band competition. It is now up to each individual to decide how much of this they will accept.

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Also I'm sure I'm not the only one but I am Indy'd out. The Thunder Dome must be experienced at least once I guess.

I got the feeling in the past lots of fans planned their summer vacations around where DCI was. There's a reason I have been to Madison multiple times , KC couple of times, Dallas, Jackson, etc, etc... But the exotic location of Indianapolis get's old fast.

But I can't really blame DCI for taking a good deal. I assume revenue wise it all balances out or they come out ahead with the Indy arrangement.

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Although we may never leave Indy, I would love to see finals in Seattle (Home of the Seahawks). Its a great town with a ton of things to do. Another great stadium, but not much in regards to town is U of OR. Autzen stadium is awesome!

Now, since I know neither of those is on the table "ever", I like the idea of going down to CA for finals. Boise would be good too, but again, not alot to do around town.

It is nice to dream.

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