DCI Championship Week (either breaking news or trolling)

[Jeff Ream]

15 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

You may be entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

1.  As DCA is about to find out (again), when you run a championship week event at 10 AM the morning after a long semifinal contest runs late into the evening, much of your potential audience will not show up.  It was true for the alumni show, and it will be true for DCA-in-Indy if they try that.

2.  Alumni shows are non-competitive, and not performed to the same standard that existed when that same style was used in competition.  

3.  Ever since drum corps competition organized itself in the 1920s, the style of show has been determined among the influencers who serve as designers/judges.  The audience and performers have no say in the matter.  Styles always fade away in the name of "innovation", but that says nothing about the audience, or what people want to perform.

Alumni corps should have been dead and buried long ago, but it still persists.  In fact, it persists roughly like DCA persists.  They are both clearly past their peak.  Not as many participants, or corps for them to participate in.  This forum routinely declares the impending death of both genres.  Yet they persist beyond those predictions. 

I am surprised alumni corps are still with us.  They keep re-inventing themselves.  The 50% you mentioned that have no ties to the corps... why do you think they are there?  Why do I see so many people perform with more than one alumni corps over time?  Those people tell me they are there simply because they want to perform that style.  

i realize alumni shows are non competitive. I attended it from the first year DCA had it til 2011 annually. no one went there looking for BD quality....and as time went on, fewer and fewer people went at all. and when it comes to alumni corps, performers do have a say....they choose to join or not. at the last show i attended with several alumni corps in it...come to think of it every group was an alumni corps including the one i performed in...we were by far the youngest corps, playing 80's and 90's tunes. our repertoire was also the most recent type of tunes performed...this was in 2014. 

yes they persist, but in DCI land, outside of Boston, almost all are one off all star projects like we have seen at DCI since the Madison show in what...06? Royal Airs came back for DCI, then kept going for a few years. Bridgement came back and only did DCI in their final year, and weren't what they were when they first came back. And trust me, seeing the wall of yellow coming up the hill at Allentown was awesome to see!

 

but look at the alumni corps no longer out there doing it...Reilly, Archie, Rebels....i think archie still has a corps but they aren't out like they were. but the bottom line is...and i got this from people in DCA many times...the alumni show itself breaks even at best. and yes some corps reinvent themselves, but they aren't as big as they were, and the show style is still from a bygone era. I'll gladly cheer any I see at a show i go to and they are there, but the one off all star projects are the ones that draw now. ever notice occasionall you'll see an all alumni show advertised.....then never happen again afterwards? Why is that?

[Jeff Ream]

13 hours ago, MikeN said:

I'll beat the same drum I do for OC - a prelims gives an extra performance opportunity, and makes the trip more attractive to corps.  Especially if you're asking the NE corps to make a longer commute to Indy, you need to put *some* sort of carrot out there. 

Personally as a whole, I think this is a brilliant idea.  From a consumer standpoint, it makes the Indy week the focus of the summer marching world, and this will expose many, many more eyeballs to DCA than they've had.  (Yes, even on a Saturday morning.)  They also become part of the DCI promotions and advertising to younger fans, raising awareness.  

It will require some (overdue) restructuring from senior corps, starting of course with the calendar, then backtracking on everything from there.  I can already foresee a much of the increased travel costs coming down on the members, too, until the corps find an equilibrium in the season where the more regional contests help fund the "big trip."  And that may swirl up the competition schedule a bit.  Or not - I could also see this having a WGI-like effect where some groups perform in only a handful of contests before going out to Nationals.

I applaud DCA for coming in on this, even if they're a little late to the party.  

Mike

first they haven't been "senior" corps for a while.

second, a prelims is fine but when? where do they rehearse when you still have OC corps competing Friday? unfortunately logistics is a consideration.

 

as for exposure....the 4 corps performing at Allentown this summer will perform...even first on...before more than double the fans they will perform in front in Rochester.

[Jeff Ream]

3 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

SSS stadium owners are generally notoriously picky about field conditions.  It was sort of a 'gasp' when DC United made arrangements for the XFL team to play in Audi Field and a lot of consternation about the state of the field during the short overlap.  Yard lines are also considered a nuisance by soccer fans.  But they were able to use some sort of weird paint that fades fast or some such for the XFL games and they were minimal for the soccer games I recall.  Last game for the XFL was done and the ENTIRE field was resodded.   

Heavy props are not kind to keeping the field without weird dents and bumps and particularly during the season (and if it's been rainy at all) stadia will protect their fields for soccer.  We saw this with the West Chester show where DCI fans loved Philly's stadium but the stadium ultimately got snippy over the state the field was left in for the Union.

That said, Indy Eleven isn't MLS.  I haven't read if they're going grass or FieldTurf.  They teamed with IUPUI's field for FieldTurf where they play now.

if it's real turf forget after what happened in Chester a few years ago. Plus no roof? one thunderstorm away from cancellation

Edited June 1, 2023 by Jeff Ream

[C.Holland]

25 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

first they haven't been "senior" corps for a while.

second, a prelims is fine but when? where do they rehearse when you still have OC corps competing Friday? unfortunately logistics is a consideration.

 

as for exposure....the 4 corps performing at Allentown this summer will perform...even first on...before more than double the fans they will perform in front in Rochester.

Rehearse? Indy schools are back in session during DCI finals week!  There’s few gyms, and even fewer fields during this time.  Open class has their finals Monday and Tuesday when they have housing way out of Indy, then has parking lot rehearsals for Thursday. Because when you come Into the circle city region, there’s not much left. Band and football, field hockey, soccer… whatever have all the fields tied up. So you either go find a state park with flat space, or you spend some cash to rent space. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by C.Holland

[keystone3ply]

12 hours ago, DeanInChicago said:

Two worries.

1. My favorite meal of the week is the early Saturday dinner before Finals with friends. 
 

2. After the chaos of loading Lucas before Saturday Finals last year, I hope the Oil Can staff can efficiently remove the DCA audience before loading the DCI audience.

Lots of hiding places at the 600 level.  😅 

[JimF-LowBari]

With declining attendance Labor Day weekend, wonder how close DCA is to running the whole event at a financial loss.

Another point to ponder 🤔

[Old Corps Guy]

It's official. Just got the announcement. 

https://dcacorps.org/dca-announcement-regarding-24-25-seasons

[MikeN]

10 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

first they haven't been "senior" corps for a while.

Oh good grief.

Mike

[BlueStainGlass]

BAM 

 

 

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

With declining attendance Labor Day weekend, wonder how close DCA is to running the whole event at a financial loss.

Another point to ponder 🤔

Maybe like when West Germany bailed out (or bought) East Germany at the end of the Cold War.   Although I think West Germany probably had more money in the bank than DCI has.