PRIZE MONEY?

[Bob984]

Does anyone know when prize money for contests was totally phased out?  I know that DCI pretty much caused the phase-out

of prize money, by creating guaranteed appearance money levels for their finalist and associate member corps at DCI-sanctioned

shows.    However, circuits (DCM, UOEC-DCE, DCS, and PDCA to name a few) and many shows, including the prior mainstays AL and

VFW, still went on for awhile.  While most (not all....I know AL didn't) adopted DCI judging and sheets, they were still independent

in many respects, and the full conversion to most/all shows being DCI was a very gradual one.

[cixelsyd]

6 hours ago, Bob984 said:

Does anyone know when prize money for contests was totally phased out? 

Never.  Corps are still paid based largely on current and historic competitive placement.  See this post for details.

 

[Northern Thunder]

It was always interesting to see how the travel expenses were factored into the "prize money" back in the 1980s.

The Pacific Northwest corps often were among the top "paid" corps, based on their distance from the DCI Championship sites in Florida and Georgia.

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by Northern Thunder

[Bob984]

On 9/5/2018 at 8:53 AM, cixelsyd said:

Never.  Corps are still paid based largely on current and historic competitive placement.  See this post for details.

 

I understand your reply (and  your breakdown of what they get to appear  excellently spells it out)  What I was referring to is there were regular season shows that offered

prize money that night for winning, 2nd place, 3rd place etc......Now it is guaranteed appearance money based on if you were a finalist or not

the year before.    However, a finalist  could come out and have a bad season, but still receive "finaist" level

appearance money all year long.  There used to be shows that would actually say in their ads, "X amount of dollars in prize money".    After DCI started, most

of these shows were run independently.    However, actual 1st-2nd-3rd prize money eventually disappeared.  I just wanted to know when that practice ended.  

[Northern Thunder]

I think the prize money days ended in the late 1970s.  U.S. Open and other major contests were still awarding decent prize money if you made top three.

VFW and American Legion were criticized in the 1950s and 1960s when they would give more money to a guest trophy presenter (Miss America, for instance)

than they gave to the winning corps.   Polish National Alliance held a championship contest that gave higher prize money than VFW or Legion.

[Bob984]

9 hours ago, Northern Thunder said:

I think the prize money days ended in the late 1970s.  U.S. Open and other major contests were still awarding decent prize money if you made top three.

VFW and American Legion were criticized in the 1950s and 1960s when they would give more money to a guest trophy presenter (Miss America, for instance)

than they gave to the winning corps.   Polish National Alliance held a championship contest that gave higher prize money than VFW or Legion.

I think that you are right.....just don't know the exact year........I know that when I started marching in 1977, I believe that there were still a few.  It's a shame

that VFW and AL eventually stopped doing their championships, as that legacy could have continued.....I think that those that ran those just didn't  want all of

the work to do it anymore, and they were perhaps too proud to just become another DCI-sanctioned event.  Many corps, even in the 1970's (Including mine)

had a VFW or American Legion post as one of their sponsors.

[Northern Thunder]

It seems that once DCI started their major regionals (East-1973, Midwest-1974) those were the contests with more prestige, and placing well in them 

was more important than the prize money, which DCI never advertised as a major thing.  U.S. Open and World Open still maintained some major sponsors to fund prize money

through most of the decade, but the prize money seemed to go by the wayside for the rest of the activity.

[Bob984]

On ‎9‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 11:15 PM, Northern Thunder said:

It seems that once DCI started their major regionals (East-1973, Midwest-1974) those were the contests with more prestige, and placing well in them 

was more important than the prize money, which DCI never advertised as a major thing.  U.S. Open and World Open still maintained some major sponsors to fund prize money

through most of the decade, but the prize money seemed to go by the wayside for the rest of the activity.

Another thing that was interesting (and confusing to many, especially the casual fan) was this......you had the DCI Eastern Championship, and you also had the DCE (Drum Corps East Championship).  In the Midwest, you had the DCI Midwest Championship, and also DCM (Drum Corps Midwest) Championship.     All were big shows.....the main difference being that the circuit championships were that region, whereas the DCI shows, although having many corps from that region, would also feature competing corps from other regions as well.  It is a good thing that prize money eventually became appearance money, as it takes enormous money these days to field a corps.  It would be interesting though, to see what the response would be if a very wealthy person sponsored one show and offered a few million in prize money.   I'm not holding my breath on that, though. 

[Fran Haring]

On 9/8/2018 at 8:58 AM, Northern Thunder said:

I think the prize money days ended in the late 1970s.  U.S. Open and other major contests were still awarding decent prize money if you made top three.

VFW and American Legion were criticized in the 1950s and 1960s when they would give more money to a guest trophy presenter (Miss America, for instance)

than they gave to the winning corps.   Polish National Alliance held a championship contest that gave higher prize money than VFW or Legion.

On the DCA side, I remember that into the late 1970s at least, the contest in Scranton, PA, which was run by one of the American Legion districts in PA, would actually announce the prize money each corps would win. "In fifth place, taking home prize money of of (whatever)... the (whatever corps)"  and so forth.

[elphaba01]

21 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

On the DCA side, I remember that into the late 1970s at least, the contest in Scranton, PA, which was run by one of the American Legion districts in PA, would actually announce the prize money each corps would win. "In fifth place, taking home prize money of of (whatever)... the (whatever corps)"  and so forth.

"Prize Money":

The VFW's top dollar award for first place in the juniors at 1961 Nationals was $1,000.00.   I remember the actual descending prize monies list they published in Drum Corps News.  I wish I could find that issue.       😩

Elphaba