What Can/Can’t Be Changed to Help

[MGCpimpOtimp]

1 hour ago, Phantom56 said:

A shorter national tour is long overdue. Keeping the corps in their respective areas for the first couple of weeks also makes smart economic sense. Perhaps DCI has finally found the right formula. 

Small regional tours means the same small line up over and over and over again. Bad for ticket sales. Bad for streaming views, bad for fans who like to see the different matchups night after night.

If you're gonna have the same lineup everyday, it better be the WHOLE line up. ONE National tour. All corps share housing with 2 or 3 other corps (hotels), 2-3 corps per cook truck, multiday prelims/finals type events in the same, large venue. If everything tour wise is the same, you can share MUCH more resources. Corps could get by with less admin, all corps could go together on medstaff, plus better group rates on hotels/food etc.

Every one gets a week to travel to the starting point, you can do some small "pre-season" shows on the way down there to make money.

Friday: Prelims
Saturday: Finals (groups that don't make finals perform in breaks/intermission a la DCI the covid year)
Sunday: Depending on the area, a one off competition, or an "extended cut" type show where each corps gets a half hour to do WHATEVER extra entertainment they have
Monday: Off/travel day

Tuesday: Rehearsal

Wednesday: Rehearsal/small $5/$10/head community show. The 2-3 groups sharing a housing site/stadium each have a half hour each to do whatever and drum up local interest in the BIG show on the weekend
Thursday: Rehearsal


Rehearsals look like 2-3 corps renting a large high school or regular sized college stadium. Each corps gets one block per day on a field outside the stadium, one without a field, and one in the stadium.

[flugelswerebugels]

On 5/17/2023 at 11:15 AM, IllianaLancerContra said:

(impacts fans; i.e., no more BD at Allentown, etc.),

I lived on the west coast for decades and b!chd and moaned about only seeing BD early season. Now I've moved east and look forward to seeing my faves from the West late in the season at Allentown. Why do you hate me?🤪

[Terri Schehr]

4 hours ago, Phantom56 said:

This season is going to be epic. Probably the best since 2018. Why the whining? The corps certainly are not whining.  The Regionals are virtually sold out. So is Indy. Must be something about the 60 year old senior average age of people on DCP. Seniors always like to complain about something--usually their gallbladder. BTW, I'm 68. 

Who’s whining? It’s discussion. It’s not my week to be a cheerleader for drum corps. 

 

3 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

Might be anecdotal, but my European friends who live in the U.S. and in Europe claim Americans complain about EVERYTHING.

They might be on to something. 

No one is complaining.  It’s discussion.  

[Terri Schehr]

3 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

So if things are going good then don’t bother thinking of ways to make it better? Was the point of the original post.

Some see things as problems and some see as chance for improvement. But have to recognize/admit the issues in order to improve them.

Scrolling on past subject matter you find offensive/unpleasant is an option. 

[LabMaster]

5 hours ago, MGCpimpOtimp said:

Small regional tours means the same small line up over and over and over again. Bad for ticket sales. Bad for streaming views, bad for fans who like to see the different matchups night after night.

If you're gonna have the same lineup everyday, it better be the WHOLE line up. ONE National tour. All corps share housing with 2 or 3 other corps (hotels), 2-3 corps per cook truck, multiday prelims/finals type events in the same, large venue. If everything tour wise is the same, you can share MUCH more resources. Corps could get by with less admin, all corps could go together on medstaff, plus better group rates on hotels/food etc.

Every one gets a week to travel to the starting point, you can do some small "pre-season" shows on the way down there to make money.

Friday: Prelims
Saturday: Finals (groups that don't make finals perform in breaks/intermission a la DCI the covid year)
Sunday: Depending on the area, a one off competition, or an "extended cut" type show where each corps gets a half hour to do WHATEVER extra entertainment they have
Monday: Off/travel day

Tuesday: Rehearsal

Wednesday: Rehearsal/small $5/$10/head community show. The 2-3 groups sharing a housing site/stadium each have a half hour each to do whatever and drum up local interest in the BIG show on the weekend
Thursday: Rehearsal


Rehearsals look like 2-3 corps renting a large high school or regular sized college stadium. Each corps gets one block per day on a field outside the stadium, one without a field, and one in the stadium.

You really need to consider all logistics of this more realistically.  Sharing resources, admin?  Not possible when these elements have been preparing a corps in the off-season for what is now a shorter competitive season.  God help the kitchen crews trying to feed 600 or more people 3 meals and 3 snacks per day while ensuring nutritional and dietary requirements are met.  Then there is the overall liability issues as well as safety and health oversight.  It’s a difficult enough task managing a single corps.  And think about all the sexual behavioral concerns.  Now you’re asking to watch triple the number of people?  There are ways to share some tour elements but combining and sharing what’s been offered above imo, is not realistically feasible or safe.

[Jeff Ream]

12 hours ago, C.Holland said:

TV we're too small a market.  Premier League soccer has two 45 (plus extra time) halves, very few commercials, very few stops in play, and has no problem getting airtime.  But its got a viewership that's huge.  Versus our activity. 

Corps operating though... At top 12 level the students pay barely half (hopefully 49% for those of you who know non-profit legalities out there) the overall operating costs, however, as you go down the ranks, that funding % changes.   And open class is nearly all student tuition.  Hence its volatility.  

 

even before too small...the length of shows is an issue. its why ESPN was highlights, even for the champion....and DCI was footing the bill

[Jeff Ream]

11 hours ago, Phantom56 said:

This season is going to be epic. Probably the best since 2018. Why the whining? The corps certainly are not whining.  The Regionals are virtually sold out. So is Indy. Must be something about the 60 year old senior average age of people on DCP. Seniors always like to complain about something--usually their gallbladder. BTW, I'm 68. 

so Alamodome sold 20k+ tickets? Allentown 11k both nights? really?

[Jeff Ream]

9 hours ago, Phantom56 said:

A shorter national tour is long overdue. Keeping the corps in their respective areas for the first couple of weeks also makes smart economic sense. Perhaps DCI has finally found the right formula. 

yes but 6 weeks of spring training drains cash fast

[BigW]

14 hours ago, Phantom56 said:

This season is going to be epic. Probably the best since 2018. Why the whining? The corps certainly are not whining.  The Regionals are virtually sold out. So is Indy. Must be something about the 60 year old senior average age of people on DCP. Seniors always like to complain about something--usually their gallbladder. BTW, I'm 68. 

The poster may be right. It might be the best season ever, great bread and circuses and even without a mainstay of DCI for the last 50 years in competition. My gall bladder was removed years ago. I held off on the removal so I could play with my alumni corps. My prostate went last month. My tonsils when I was 8. Age is irrelevant to the discussion, and a rather condescending comment to make. What original equipment pieces I still possess also make no difference to my perceptions or thoughts.

 

The post is so typical of the "nothing to see here, nothing is wrong, go away", then make mocking comments school I see time and time again here when someone brings up things that make others uncomfortable.

 

Like when...

- things were brought up about two DCI at the time HoF directors that nose dived one of their corps nearly into oblivion and got the other one rendered effectively inactive through their behaviors that had been called out here.

 

-A DCA corps had made serious efforts to bury the fact they had someone on Megan's list performing with them by threatening individuals in various ways to shut them up, and some of the members even made excuses here. Eventually someone doxxed out the secret here, and even then there were the "nothing to see here" crowds defending the decisions. (individual railroaded, even though the jury found them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.... they deserved a second chance...umm, absolutely NOT...), and I pointed out at the time that the appeal in the linked official court documents didn't appeal the guilt, but the severity of sentence. They went away. So did the corps.

 

- the recent SCV thread has shown there are elements in control at SCV doing the same thing. "Hush up, nothing to see here, go away or we'll drop the banhammer on you" when there's a real issue that they don't like having made public, even though the public documents are out there.

 

So be aware that that kind of standpoint usually is a repeated failure. Look carefully at a lot of historical trends.

Corps historically don't care about the well-being of their competitors. In fact, if they fail or have trouble, it's a benefit. They can get members, staff, and it's one less threat at championships. Jim and Jeff can vouch for the benefits of how Westshore got many great individuals from the failure of the Yankee-Rebels, as well as folks from Erie, Rochester, Johnsonburg, and Steel City when those corps had trouble. It's still like that. the OP in the Vanguard posted how some performers have landed with other corps and how he was happy they did, but he felt bad they didn't get the experience they'd hoped for. Whining? Really? Come on.

 

The problem is, everyone's running out of corps to fail. One individual posted that no World Class corps has started in 7 years. In that time, one's gone inactive for this season, and another was basically suspended until a leadership change was done, and that's not likely to happen. Unless someone can find a well-heeled and financially savvy person like Mr. Cook, it's doubtful anyone can build one from the ground up and get it really competitive. As has been said by a mentor of mine on DCP, it's a walk to the gallows, the question is slower, or faster? The bread and circuses might be fine for now or a few years, but is it sustainable? There was a huge ruckus when the G6 proposal was leaked. That would have likely wiped out everyone but the G6, and indirectly, one of the masterminds behind it was moaning at the time how they weren't getting the best performers to audition anymore. Wiping out a few competitors may have helped their cause. It was likely a motive. Take the cream of the cream, and make lip service to education. Is it the answer? It's worth discussing.

 

All just my tuppence. It's headed to some kind of tipping point in DCI and DCA. I'm not knowing when for either.

 

Speaking of bread and circuses, Jim, if you're going to Dover, I'll take a personal day. I really dug your comment earlier. I'll show for the performers in Open who work just as hard. 3AM, time for bed. 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by BigW

[Terri Schehr]

8 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

so Alamodome sold 20k+ tickets? Allentown 11k both nights? really?

Funny, Jim called last week to change our tickets for Indy so I don’t have to go down so many steps so early in my recovery, and they gave us tickets so I don’t have to go down 30 plus steps. It was pretty easy and they’re good seats.  They were very accommodating so thank you to that person at DCI.