Would it make sense for DCI to implement temporary rules limiting certain things that add to a corps ability to tour

[Terri Schehr]

6 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

i haven't denied this. but look at the places the OC tour goes. many places don't even count as suburbs

It was an adventure driving to Westminster.  Michigan City and even Marion, Indiana, are quite a haul from Indy. 

[GUARDLING]

9 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

rinse repeat. so many of the same mistakes, 2 of which we have pointed oit

So true,with some. People tend to repeat the same mistakes over and over sometimes. Fine example : turn on the TV any day lately

I will say it again though, mainly because I have seen it and directly been involved. There's one way to fix it.

Edited July 3, 2020 by GUARDLING

[DAvery]

It seems to me travel expensis would be the simplest financial item to reduce.  So does DCI reqiure attendence at certain shows to compete at finals? As a WC corps do you have to go to SA or Allentown to compete in Indy? Could a corps not compete outside of thier area until a week before finals? I understand they would have fewer competitions, with fewer sppearance fees, but my guess is that appearance fees do not offset the cost of traveling to shows outside of your home area. There might be a recruiting issue with less competitions, but the upside is the corps would charge less tuition. 

[MikeN]

I know there is an expectation that if you're in WC that you will be competing in X number of events throughout the summer.  There is some flexibility involved, especially with the larger corps.  It's kind of a given that each corps will go on the longest tour they can comfortably support.  I've not really heard of a lot of bickering in WC about tour planning at DCI, but then again, they would hardly broadcast that to the world if there was.  

I know with my OC group, they were fairly lenient.  We told them how many shows we were planning to do - which was on the low end of the spectrum - and they did their best to accommodate that.  We'd ask for specific events to attend, and they did a pretty good job of that as well, though we never got all of the ones we asked for.  For us in TX, the hardest part was right around San Antonio week, as we were either hauling long distances to make it back to TX, or hauling long distances right after to get to the OC-only part of tour.  For us, it didn't feel like it was that involved of a process.  Especially in recent years, the tour got fairly standardized from year to year, so you knew what was coming.  That's one benefit (and I think it's a *big* benefit) of Finals being locked into Indy.  

Mike

[George Dixon]

On 6/29/2020 at 10:22 AM, Cooch said:

I wonder if it would make sense for temporary rules limiting some of the items that add great cost to tour budgets to help corps field shows next season. With the ongoing issues many items that have been incorporated into shows  have increased tour cost greatly. Many things you need to keep in mind are the costs behind the scenes to transport, build , and purchase these items. Trust me I LOVE drum corps today, but for the good of the activity should it be considered for things like props, electronics (except for miking keyboards) and uniform changes ect..... Would it make sense to preserve DCI tours by making it easier to go on tour, the trucks, the volunteers, and additional staffing that need to be fed paid and transported, the initial costs are a huge burden to bear as well.

Just a thought, we cant lose these amazing performers or it will take years to rebuild, if at all, I can tell you my summer stinks, and no Indie!, crap

Nope zero 

[PioneerWebmaster]

1 hour ago, DAvery said:

It seems to me travel expensis would be the simplest financial item to reduce.  So does DCI reqiure attendence at certain shows to compete at finals? As a WC corps do you have to go to SA or Allentown to compete in Indy? Could a corps not compete outside of thier area until a week before finals? I understand they would have fewer competitions, with fewer sppearance fees, but my guess is that appearance fees do not offset the cost of traveling to shows outside of your home area. There might be a recruiting issue with less competitions, but the upside is the corps would charge less tuition. 

Looking at the DCI Policies & Procedures Manual, here are the two bullet points for WC corps that directly pertain to scheduling:

• Perform at a number of DCI events that serves the best interest first of the corps, as well as that of DCI, and as agreed upon between the corps and DCI.
• Must attend DCI World Championships

There's a lot of wiggle room in that first bullet point, but my personal observation is that DCI has been relatively flexible when it comes to scheduling with respect to the best interests of the corps and its members.  That said, a lot of times its the corps themselves that are pushing to get into as many shows as possible.  Not just for the appearance fees, but also to maintain competitive/scoring inertia.

[cixelsyd]

1 hour ago, DAvery said:

It seems to me travel expensis would be the simplest financial item to reduce.  So does DCI reqiure attendence at certain shows to compete at finals? As a WC corps do you have to go to SA or Allentown to compete in Indy? 

Yes.  World-class expectation is that everyone is at the San Antonio show, and on the WC tour from then on.  Exceptions to that are only made for special, once-only circumstances, like a tour of Europe.  (And maybe a global pandemic?)

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Could a corps not compete outside of thier area until a week before finals? 

Yes.  Open-class corps can do that.  They string together shorter tours to bring corps from opposite coasts together.

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I understand they would have fewer competitions, with fewer sppearance fees, but my guess is that appearance fees do not offset the cost of traveling to shows outside of your home area. 

Your guess is mostly correct.  There are other complicating factors, but your overriding point stands - it is possible to plan a less extensive (and less expensive) tour model for 2021.

[Ghost]

48 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

Yes.  World-class expectation is that everyone is at the San Antonio show, and on the WC tour from then on.  Exceptions to that are only made for special, once-only circumstances, like a tour of Europe.  (And maybe a global pandemic?)

Top 12 caliber WC corps want feed back from the judges, so they have that challenge of picking what shows that allow them to compete with other corps in their "group".  

 

 

[garfield]

6 hours ago, Ghost said:

Top 12 caliber WC corps want feed back from the judges, so they have that challenge of picking what shows that allow them to compete with other corps in their "group".  

 

 

And, at the same time, DCI wants the "top" corps separated around the country so that show sponsors can attract a crowd to see a top-12 "headliner".

It would be easy: just have the top-12 talk with each other and plan to only attend shows as a group and any others would be used as fill.

It has always amazed me that the corps established DCI to organize and promote "the tour" when the corps themselves reserve the right to determine which shows they'd plan to attend.  In essence, DCI is simply a logistics and relationship management company that books venues for the drum corps to play in but can't promise nor calculate revenues or profits until the corps choose the shows in which they want to perform.  Does that sound like a "tour management" company?  To me, that sounds like a cat-herding organization with remarkable success.

I wonder what's wrong with DCI continuing that relationship and booking role to capitalize and leverage on it's long successes to provide venues in which corps participate in local "mini-tours".  Dan's office certainly has the experience, if not the immediate capacity, to handle the job.  At some point, potentially, if those tours support corps' rebuilding, the independent mini-tours could be linked together into a national "tour" like current regionals, and end up back in Indy (or Bloomington, please, God before I die).

It would take resources, but it seems foolish to discard decades of tour management experience despite some corps' insistence that they can perform the same tasks better/cheaper.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by garfield

[DAvery]

7 hours ago, Ghost said:

Top 12 caliber WC corps want feed back from the judges, so they have that challenge of picking what shows that allow them to compete with other corps in their "group".  

 

 

And we have all seen this done to the financial detriment of many corps. Maybe its time corps look at sustainability rather than their immediate competitive success. Maybe the first 4-5 weeks of the season should be just weekend shows of combined world and open class, having the judges travel instead of the corps. Sure you would only see the same corps for the first 4 weeks and some corps are not that close to others, but I think it could work.