See you at DCA World Championships!

[BigW]

7 hours ago, Fred Windish said:

Visit the DCA Championship ticket selection map. Dismal. It would appear not even family members of performers attend as they once did. The numbers indicate a smaller crowd than last year. Difficult trend to reverse.

Admittedly, I can be considered part of the problem.  I choose to watch on Box5.

Fred, how long of a trip would it be for you? Long enough that I'm more than understanding if you're watching online.

[BigW]

6 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Box5 viewer too but if that didn’t exist this year I might have gone to Prelims for the first time in years.

Winder if anyway DCA could find out why people who went last year do not go this year. 

 

I would think it would be relatively easy for them to contact that list of individuals and survey them. I haven't procured a ticket yet, maybe some folks are in the same boat.

[lcarlton]

43 minutes ago, BigW said:

Thought- while we here believe this is worth doing and has great value, it just seems many people now do not view it as such. I think there's a variety of issues in the stew that has caused that problem, and some of them are at cross purposes. For instance, I would think some view the limited performance opportunities which look to becoming even fewer a negative... yet some also think the Summer weekend commitment is too much. One can't have it both ways.

Limited performance opportunities isn't an issue especially if you're in the south or midwest DCA corps. Tradition went the entire without a DCA show until Championships and won Class A. Chops / Govies/ and MBI would only have one or two DCA shows, and instead do like 5 or 6 DCI shows which often had slightly bigger audiences or at least on par with some DCA shows. 

There are also a handful of jr. corps who only do 6-9 shows and don't always go to World championships like Impulse, Watchmen, Golden Empire, Vessel, and similar. I think it's more of a matter of cultivating the interest and sustaining it, which honestly is something I struggle with.

[Fred Windish]

31 minutes ago, BigW said:

Fred, how long of a trip would it be for you? Long enough that I'm more than understanding if you're watching online.

Only about 3 hours drive. I’m in Bethlehem.  It’s just that as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to enjoy my private life, wife, and comfortable home more than anything else. There’s also the matter of college football on TV, a lifelong passion, too!  Finances, health are not issues.

You know, I live 5 miles from J. Birney Crum Stadium.I don’t attend that in-person, either!  Knowing my connections to both organizations , some are rather confused. I’m not!

 

[BigW]

23 minutes ago, Fred Windish said:

Only about 3 hours drive. I’m in Bethlehem.  It’s just that as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to enjoy my private life, wife, and comfortable home more than anything else. There’s also the matter of college football on TV, a lifelong passion, too!  Finances, health are not issues.

You know, I live 5 miles from J. Birney Crum Stadium.I don’t attend that in-person, either!  Knowing my connections to both organizations , some are rather confused. I’m not!

 

I thought you were in the Deep South with that "Bama logo. 

[Jeff Ream]

11 hours ago, BigW said:

Nothing wrong in growing a young audience. It's essential to any activity. MLB is desperately trying to do just that.

What makes me wonder is the perceived  very short shelf life of the new fans with DCI.

No major sports that I know if have a fan base that's a 3 year expendable crop. They want people to follow for a long time from young on. They try to get the new fans in, but then they try to keep them. I really can't see the model as healthy unless it's more of a throw the hands up and run with the HS Band model, which is a weird duck to begin with in so many ways. Might explain why I feel Bandma Jones and Aunt Mabel are shoving me out the door while they scream "THEY'RE ALWAYS READYYYYY!!!!!!!!!" for you know who. 

the product on the field is young. The audience isn't. if you don't get the younger crowd hooked, you won't capture any of them. You won't capture them all, but any you capture is more than what is happening now

[Jeff Ream]

8 hours ago, Fred Windish said:

Visit the DCA Championship ticket selection map. Dismal. It would appear not even family members of performers attend as they once did. The numbers indicate a smaller crowd than last year. Difficult trend to reverse.

Admittedly, I can be considered part of the problem.  I choose to watch on Box5.

looking at that map...what 1200 paid? You won't get locals walking up at those prices.

[BigW]

8 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

the product on the field is young. The audience isn't. if you don't get the younger crowd hooked, you won't capture any of them. You won't capture them all, but any you capture is more than what is happening now

Agreed- It's just that they need to get younger people- but also retain as many as possible and not throw up the hands and figure they're gone by 22, time to renew the crop. At best that more or less keeps it static, a finger in the dike as the old folks pass on.

[N.E. Brigand]

Seven years ago I posted this thread, in which I suggested that DCI might benefit from at least advertising in the program for OMEA finals, in which some 12,000+ kids perform. A fair number of the responses here were along the lines of: students already know about drum corps, so there's no point in reaching out to them.

[Jeff Ream]

18 minutes ago, BigW said:

Agreed- It's just that they need to get younger people- but also retain as many as possible and not throw up the hands and figure they're gone by 22, time to renew the crop. At best that more or less keeps it static, a finger in the dike as the old folks pass on.

when DCI stopped trying to appease older and younger and went after younger, attendance started going up. they like the product currently being put on the field....that's the market to get.