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It is time for the business of the activity to evolve


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As both DCI and the corps are organized today, no, the pro sports framework doesn’t apply. Fun to think about, maybe.

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3 hours ago, SuperSaderFan said:

My topic is to encourage the growth of the activity and taking advantage of our scale. I  know what Inspire Arts & Music has done in attracting corporate sponsorships. Like my Dad taught me, all you can do is ask and they either say yes or no. Lets stick with the facts and go from there:

Our activity positively impacts thousands of kids per year. They are the hardest working activity I am aware of and they pay to do it. I  am sure that health and fitness companies would be interested in supporting.

Regionals and Championships bring in millions of dollars to major cities - what are we getting for that?

Why doesn't DCI partner with BOA and leverage running events for multiple seasons?

Scale purchasing for transportation, equipment, food, souvies etc.

Follow the NFL model of all ticket revenue, souvies sales be collected centrally and distributed equally.

A discount on Lucas Oil and some office space. The fact that this is good enough to lock finals into Indy until roughly the heat death of the universe paints a pretty clear picture of how many other cities were bidding to be DCI's home town!

I think you are asking legit questions, but I suspect the honest answer in most cases is that DCI's audience and participation are far too small to be of interest to major  sponsors.

Put yourself in the shoes (ha!) of Nike's CMO. You have hundreds or even thousands of sports, teams, activities and events around the world that you could spend your marketing budget on. Here's the list of all the stuff you are already doing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nike_sponsorships. What does DCI bring to the table that benefits Nike more than those existing ones?

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1 hour ago, garfield said:

Smart people can hire smart people.

We can agree that smart business people don't necessarily have to have experience in every field required to host band shows.

Blue Devils, Crown, Bluecoats do a pretty good job with streaming, too.

Every corps on the field is worried about the future, even if they don't see the one you do.

I'll let you interact with 'Coats.

DCI should be a lot of things.  But DCI has only a couple of jobs to do according to its charter and by-laws.  

I think Bluecoats show was crap this year.  I like the direction BK is going, and Mandarins seem to be attracting quite a crowd, too.  (BTW, if you'll look close at the BoD list you'll see some pretty close connections to 'Coats.  I suspect their expert and professional influence is a deep and integral part of the tech/streaming/future direction of DCI.)

 

Shall I pencil in Bluecoats as your hot dog corps next year? 

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9 hours ago, HockeyDad said:

So this is a thread of tossing random thoughts out there?  What are we trying to do?  Cut costs?  Increase revenue?  Increase viewership?  Increase revenue by increased viewership?  Increase participation?  What?

”Treat it like a professional sport”. What?  

How about reading what was presented rather than thinking it is trying to be something it’s not.  It’s about how corps can take advantage of leveraging purchasing goods.

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8 hours ago, garfield said:

I think there are some leaders of some very big entertainment organizations who would take umbrage with your claim that they "just some old Band Directors".

Yes, and even "they" know they need "new blood" on the DCI BoD.

Dan's long experience is valuable currency and his tour management capabilities, not to mention his ability to wrangle herds of unruly cats into playing well together, are proven, demonstrable, and evident in fact.

I'm sorry, but the last sentence of your first paragraph is insulting, unproven, and likely not even close to true.  This activity, and the leadership qualities of its leader, are unique to darn-near any other you can name.  I would challenge you back to find this 22-year-old straw person and introduce him/her to us.

Non-profit corporations are still corporations.  To put it succinctly, DCI is run as a "not for profit" and each drum corps is run as a non-profit.  Specifically, DCI returns all of its "profit" to the corps each year and keeps little or nothing for itself.

All of the other bits you list are common data points easily found.  Jeff Fiedler has done a bunch of stuff in the activity since he was Board Chair.

"Up to date Tax Fillings (sic)"?  See Guidestar for a three year history of DCI's, and each corps', 990s.

DCI files their 990s under Drum Corps International.

 

So it’s all perfect?  No improvements needed?  No opportunities for future planning?

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7 hours ago, Glenn426 said:

And yes introducing a 22 yr Old would be a hard Ego hit for someone who's been around for 40 years to understand that a 22yr old might have new ideas that might be better for the Organization, but its absolutely possible that a young person, 

DCI is not a single corporation operating all the corps, so good luck getting all those directors to follow the advice of your 22 year old. Also, the fist thing a business-savvy person would say to do with DCI corps would be to shut down the ones that have a hard time supporting themselves. So sure, there's probably a way for DCI to make more money, as long as you don't mind changing the entire activity in a way that would most likely be displeasing to the vast majority of current fans, and that would never come close to attracting even a tiny fraction of the numbers of fans that make professional and college sports so attractive to big corporations like Nike. 

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5 hours ago, MikeRapp said:

The only reason revenue sharing works for pro franchises is because they share all the revenues, and they have a system where by every franchise he has an equal opportunity to succeed. But with that comes requirements, including salary, facilities, and virtually everything else you can imagine. In other words, revenue sharing also dictate cost sharing.

The simple fact of the matter is, that isn’t the system that DCI currently deployed. Therefore, revenue sharing will never be accepted.

Who is talking about revenue sharing?  The OP is talking about PURCHASING power.  There is a secondary premise regarding some shared revenue of spiciest, but primarily it is leveraging procurement of goods and services.

Edited by LabMaster
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