2muchcoffeeman Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 gas prices are more expensive in CA and the West coast in general than they are even on the East coast Correct. Mitigating factors: If you're talking only about holding DCI finals on the West Coast, then the amount of driving around the coast is minimized, as the corps spend the week parked in place; they're not driving all over the coast. If you're talking about holding a greater portion of a season's events on the West Coast, then you have access to ~50+ million population all within a single 1,000-mile corridor from San Diego to Seattle, compared to criss-crossing three time zones on the east side of the Rockies. You could hold several shows in Southern California, and barely need to move the corps between them. IDK whether it would be more/less expensive to get adequate judging panels to a bunch of West-Coast shows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Gas is more expensive on the coasts, by 20% - 30%. So coming from coasts and heading inward is more expensive. Wait, JJ. So, BD and Cadets don't buy gas when they're in the heartland? And Madison, Phantom , Bloo, and all the other midwest corps don't buy gas while they're on the coasts? Umm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 They're getting there it seems. Used to be more shows in the East too ( and many more corps). I still believe that gas prices are more expensive in CA and the West coast in general than they are even on the East coast; point being that a tour would be more expensive out West. The tours in the Midwest and South are certainly easier on the budget. I still think a finals out West would be a great boost to the activity every few years. So, corps from the coasts would be glad to travel to the Heartland where things are cheaper, yes? Why, again, then are we talking about going to CA where gas is so expensive? I'm corn-fused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Wait, JJ. So, BD and Cadets don't buy gas when they're in the heartland? And Madison, Phantom , Bloo, and all the other midwest corps don't buy gas while they're on the coasts? Umm... They spend a hell of a lot less money on it was the point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) So, corps from the coasts would be glad to travel to the Heartland where things are cheaper, yes? . Methinks that is what jj actually was trying to say. Why, again, then are we talking about going to CA where gas is so expensive? Because finals is a single destination. You're not driving all over the coast. You're driving to one place and staying put, until you head back home. More expensive than Indy? Sure. By a huge margin? Probably not. Also, because you can take advantage of huge population density. You could hold four shows -- Escondido, Orange County, Riverside, and Pasadena -- in terrific venues, and barely need to move. You won't be burning as much gas as you do getting from Round Rock to San Antonio to Hattiesville to Hunstville to Atlanta. SoCal traffic is a headache, to be sure, and not to be underestimated, but if you're smart about it, you could end up with more field time and less drive time over the course of a week of shows. Edited July 31, 2014 by 2muchcoffeeman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 So, corps from the coasts would be glad to travel to the Heartland where things are cheaper, yes? Why, again, then are we talking about going to CA where gas is so expensive? I'm corn-fused. I'm stating a reason why corps would not want to travel West for a championship on the West coast. The most logical reason would be that their travel costs would be expensive touring here. Didn't mean to be corn-fusing. I "can" try to explain things in more depth in the "future(s)" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv4corps Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Methinks that is what jj actually was trying to say. Because finals is a single destination. You're not driving all over the coast. You're driving to one place and staying put, until you head back home. More expensive than Indy? Sure. By a huge margin? Probably not. Also, because you can take advantage of huge population density. You could hold four shows -- Escondido, Orange County, Riverside, and Pasadena -- in terrific venues, and barely need to move. You won't be burning as much gas as you do getting from Round Rock to San Antonio to Hattiesville to Hunstville to Atlanta. SoCal traffic is a headache, to be sure, and not to be discounted, but if you're smart about it, you could end up with more field time and less drive time over the course of a week of shows. And no threat of rain. And no threat of rain. And no threat of rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm confident that actual drum-corps executives, who have actual experience paying the bills, have already done the math on this and have reached sensible conclusions why it makes more financial sense to stick to a Midwest/East schedule than to go West. I'm not here expecting the scales to fall from anyone's eyes. I'm just offering a back-of-the-envelope rationale for going West. It's fun to think about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) Methinks that is what jj actually was trying to say. Because finals is a single destination. You're not driving all over the coast. You're driving to one place and staying put, until you head back home. More expensive than Indy? Sure. By a huge margin? Probably not. Also, because you can take advantage of huge population density. You could hold four shows -- Escondido, Orange County, Riverside, and Pasadena -- in terrific venues, and barely need to move. You won't be burning as much gas as you do getting from Round Rock to San Antonio to Hattiesville to Hunstville to Atlanta. SoCal traffic is a headache, to be sure, and not to be discounted, but if you're smart about it, you could end up with more field time and less drive time over the course of a week of shows. You're right 2much. I was thinking along those lines too. I'm was also thinking about the logistic for the corps regarding the complete summer tour and how they would probably want the "tour" to end up in California ( or Oregon or Washington) for finals. They'd have to find show sites along the way and eventually they'd butt up against the rising gas prices just West of Missouri ( who has probably the lowest gas prices in the country). There are more corps East of the Mississippi who may resists these additional costs. Something to offset that could be having more late season shows than normal spread through-out the West and structure them so that they draw more locals over a longer period of time. Have two top 5 corps there, two bottom 7 corps there, and 3 other corps and spread them around the region for more than 1 show. If finals are in Pasadena again, have 2 late season shows in Washington and Oregon, a late season show in Eureka, 2 late season bay area shows, 2 late season SoCal shows, and maybe a late season Vegas show ( in addition to the early season Phoenix show). These could go to all the corps to help defray the increased gas prices. I dunno, I haven't tried to cost it out, but it seems like there's a pretty big demand for corps shows in the region that is never going to travel to Indy. Edited July 31, 2014 by jjeffeory 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) Something to keep in mind is that corps don't pay pump prices. The fuel costs are folded into the season-long contracts they sign with the bus companies. If a trip to the West Coast is in the offing, the bus company could build the expected higher diesel costs into their bids, of course. If prices rise above the predicted price, the bus company eats it (and they reap the windfall if fuel prices drop). But they may not be higher in the first place: Bus companies buy their fuel in bulk, on contract, too, diminishing if not altogether eliminating regional differences in prices. In the end, the startling retail pump prices of California are not likely to be the costs that the corps actually pay. Edited July 31, 2014 by 2muchcoffeeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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