Santa Clara Vanguard 2023 Announcement Thread

[Mello Dude]

3 hours ago, gbass598 said:

This is an interesting take. Why have 12 mellophones, 9 snare drums? 18 trumpets? All that stuff costs money. (And not very much when it comes down to it after it gets returned to the sponsor and resold each year) Less people means less equipment and less buses. Not sure why singling out the front ensemble as being too much is effective or necessary.

Because the whole point of amplification is that we wouldn't need 6 marimbas to be heard.  6 Marimbas are also a hell of a lot more expensive to transport and buy.  FWIW numbers balance acoustic instruments on the field. 

[scheherazadesghost]

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Edited June 13, 2023 by scheherazadesghost

[gbass598]

12 minutes ago, Mello Dude said:

Because the whole point of amplification is that we wouldn't need 6 marimbas to be heard.  6 Marimbas are also a hell of a lot more expensive to transport and buy.  FWIW numbers balance acoustic instruments on the field. 

Amplification allows the players to play with proper technique. They are big and they are expensive but corps get them cheap (or possibly even free for the season), return them to the manufacturer, and then the manufacturer resells them. 6 marimbas balanced with 75-80 member horn lines is balancing the acoustic instruments on the field.

[drumcorpsfever]

Anyone think they can have a top 6 corps under a million dollars a year?  Not so. 

Four charter buses, equipment rig, prop hauler, volunteer vehicle(s), staff vehicle, 200 meals at a time, multiply by 3 meals a day plus a snack, spring training costs, staffing costs for top talent, insurances, equipment, facilities …that’s a ton of cash. 
 

Drum corps does not have the scale to sustain a touring model throughout the activity. That’s why the number of corps has dwindled to very few over the years. Go back and read the obituaries on volumes of corps. The list of dead corps seems endless. 
 

DCI needs to become a better scholastic partner. Somehow it needs to get back into the communities they so poorly represent. Perhaps it’s all-star community bands. Match membership ages appropriately with the partnering schools.
 

Drum corps won’t look the same as it does today. However, if DCI doesn’t do something, there won’t be anything left to look at. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by drumcorpsfever

[Jeff Ream]

49 minutes ago, drumcorpsfever said:

Many corps, believe it or not, do not have audited financials.This would find it difficult for a corps to obtain a loan or LOC   

Last I’m aware, audited financials are not mandated by DCI charter. Perhaps for world class, it should be. 

given that most boards have people with financial world backgrounds this astounds me. and seeing some bios on the Vanguard board, that they didn't look to diversify income streams is astounding

Edited December 15, 2022 by Jeff Ream

[Jeff Ream]

31 minutes ago, Mello Dude said:

Because the whole point of amplification is that we wouldn't need 6 marimbas to be heard.  6 Marimbas are also a hell of a lot more expensive to transport and buy.  FWIW numbers balance acoustic instruments on the field. 

and those marimbas get resold each year and practically pay for themselves

[AlexL]

13 minutes ago, drumcorpsfever said:

Anyone think they can have a top 6 corps under a million dollars a year?  Not so. 
 

4 charter buses, equipment rig, prop hauler, volunteer vehicle(s), staff vehicle, 200 meals at a time, multiply by 3 meals a day plus a snack, spring training costs, staffing costs, insurances, equipment… that’s a ton of cash. 
 

Drum corps does not have the scale to sustain a touring model throughout the activity. That’s why the number of corps has dwindle to very few over the years. Go back and read the obituaries on volumes of corps. The list of dead corps seems endless. 
 

DCI needs to become a better scholastic partner. Somehow it needs to get back into the communities they so poorly represent. Perhaps it’s all-star community bands. Match membership ages appropriately with the partnering schools. Drum corps won’t look the same as it does today. However, if DCI doesn’t do something, there won’t be anything left to look at. 

 

I mean, plenty of corps like you imagine existed once upon a time. They all died out too. At faster rates. There just wasnt demand for it. And probably even less with competitive high school marching bands filling the role even more now than back then. 

The fact is, drum corps is a niche activity. An expensive niche activity at that. Even if you could go more local, you'd diminish the value of the experience. The tour is a huge part of the value proposition. So yeah, you'd save some costs, but you'd also have to expect a drop in revenue as no one is paying $5k a summer to not get the tour experience. History tells us that the math doesn't work for that model.

The people who have worked tirelessly over decades on the touring model as it exists today didnt do it just because it seemed cool. They did it because it is the best chance for success. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by AlexL

[JimF-LowBari]

9 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

given that most boards have people with financial world backgrounds this astounds me. and seeing some bios on the Vanguard bard, that they didn't look to diversify income streams is astounding

Had someone tell me on another SM site that SCV did bingo for 50 years so they had faith in it. 🤦‍♂️

Didn't respond to my “faith is nice but nothing lasts forever” reply. 

[AzEuph]

10 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Had someone tell me on another SM site that SCV did bingo for 50 years so they had faith in it. 🤦‍♂️

Didn't respond to my “faith is nice but nothing lasts forever” reply. 

And even worse, they’re blaming this on the delayed approval of a second bingo center that was supposed to get approved 4Q21.  Their 50 year old bingo center is declining in revenue and the idea is to open up a 2nd decaying operations?! Hahaha.

At this point in time, I’m taking a worse-case approach until they come out with more details. Not that they have too though.  And that worst-case scenario is VMAPA defaulting on loans and risking assets like the bingo hall and trailers.  Nevermind missing a year, that’s a scenario of a corps going BK.

[JimF-LowBari]

7 minutes ago, AzEuph said:

And even worse, they’re blaming this on the delayed approval of a second bingo center that was supposed to get approved 4Q21.  Their 50 year old bingo center is declining in revenue and the idea is to open up a 2nd decaying operations?! Hahaha.

At this point in time, I’m taking a worse-case approach until they come out with more details. Not that they have too though.  And that worst-case scenario is VMAPA defaulting on loans and risking assets like the bingo hall and trailers.  Nevermind missing a year, that’s a scenario of a corps going BK.

As I posted many pages back if there are other bingo games in the area SCV May hit a conflict. IOW whatever night they pick for the 2nd game there might be other game(s) going on. And bingo players usually don’t go changing their routine unless the new game has high payouts (which cuts into profits).

Edited December 15, 2022 by JimF-LowBari