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In The News – Canton Bluecoats Face Uncertainty After DCI Season Canceled


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23 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

Well enough that all the aforementioned leagues will be around this time next year.  

I'm sure it is the salary cap that is keeping the NFL afloat and not the fact the owners are billionaires or that the league brings in billions of dollars every year

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47 minutes ago, dbc03 said:

I'm sure it is the salary cap that is keeping the NFL afloat and not the fact the owners are billionaires or that the league brings in billions of dollars every year

and franchises everywhere are laying people off

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On 4/13/2020 at 12:54 AM, drumcorpsfever said:

$2.5 million budget per year is too high for a drum corps. And 200?  That’s insane no matter how you count it.

I think the 200 employee figure was likely a mistake or misunderstanding on the part of the paper. They were probably counting the 150 corps members in addition to admin, teachers. designers, bingo staff, volunteers, medical & physical fitness staff, etc. I suppose if you count the number of people they need to run their 3 shows (one of which is a very large show in early August) to go along with other programs (WGI, Cleveland Browns, etc.) that maybe you could get 200 employees, but even that would be misleading. 

I no longer live in the Canton area but I used to serve on the BoD many moons ago and continued to work bingo for the corps up through the summer of 2017. Like any corps, when you lose one of your major fundraising options you are going to be hurting. Their bingo game is great and draws a lot of people. It is a major revenue generator. I hope bingo will make a comeback. This virus may linger (we all hope not) and that could cause problems with getting people into the event center for bingo games. If we ever get to a point where they can reopen they may have to allow less people into the hall in order to space them out, and that alone can be crippling. Bingo games do better with more people. 

Bluecoats have great alumni who donate, and they have a few major donors as well. They organization is setup and administered very professionally. I have no concerns that they will exist or make it through this situation. They are well loved by music educators and other music professionals in the state of Ohio. I think the support will be there, and I think younger generations of talented musicians will want to march with Ohio's premiere D&BC. There is no doubt finances will be tight for a while. 

 

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On 4/10/2020 at 2:21 PM, Newseditor44 said:

I think it is entirely probable that the 2021 season will have a somber look to it as we'll most likely see some familiar names no longer with us. I don't think its out of the realm of possibility that we have just enough corps to field a top 12 on Saturday night. I hope I'm wrong, but preparing for the worst.

It's especially disconcerting to think about this possibly happening. Especially due to the fact that young adults who would have aged out this year (2020) were just awarded a "bonus" year to finish their drum corps careers, and they may end up losing a chance to perform at all if their corps can't afford to go on tour next year. It makes me wonder – would these members be granted a spot somewhere else if they still wanted to age out? 🤔 It's certainly a conundrum and definitely not the most important thing to worry about right now. But the potential snowball effect of this is a little demoralizing. 

This all comes down to the importance of supporting the corps as much as we can (another thread, I know). Hoping for the best possible 2021 season. 

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On 4/12/2020 at 11:54 PM, drumcorpsfever said:

$2.5 million budget per year is too high for a drum corps. And 200?  That’s insane no matter how you count it.

that budget is super high. Makes me remember some discussions around "sound guys" maybe this might be a good time to cut that expense out. 

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1 hour ago, E3D said:

that budget is super high. Makes me remember some discussions around "sound guys" maybe this might be a good time to cut that expense out. 

The cost of sound guys is probably one of the lower costs.  Think of putting the following on the road from ST to Finals:

154 MM’s, 50-70 instructional staff (designers, techs For a full tour or in & out), food staff, medical staff, misc admin staff, 4-5 busses, 4-5 semis, vehicle insurance, vehicle leasing, souvie staff, souvies and souvie truck/trailer, brass & percussion instruments, electronics, props, licensing, show sponsorship costs. And two big ones; food and fuel.  $2.5m for a top 12 corps is not outlandish.  Super high yes, but not for a top tier competitive touring corps.

Edited by LabMaster
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6 hours ago, E3D said:

that budget is super high. Makes me remember some discussions around "sound guys" maybe this might be a good time to cut that expense out. 

Keep in mind that a high percentage of the money from the overall revenue goes back into bingo, other fundraisers, shows, admin, and staff needed for other programs - not just the summer drum corps staff. 

Edited by jwillis35
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We don't really have to guess about the budget, their 990 is on Charity Navigator.

In 2017 their total revenue was $2,114,011

$210k came from donations/grants

$1.2mil came from the corps camp fees, membership fees, and show fees

$231k came from Bingo

$163k came from fundraising events

$333k came from some kind of inventory sale

 

In terms of expenses

$84k went towards officers/directors/etc compensation (Almost all of this is the $82k salary of David Glasgow)

$177k went towards other salaries/wages with another $55k towards benefits/payroll taxes

$705k went towards travel

$419k was considered to be "other fees for services" from non-employees, given the low salary number this probably includes show design and instructors?

$194k was bucketed under depreciation

 

Their total "program" expenses were $1.7mil with another $300k in administrative/management expenses 

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