Cadets Suspend for 2024

[MikeD]

45 minutes ago, keystone3ply said:

Reminds me of one the stories about the inception of SOA.  The story was that the ATL based Coca-Cola wanted to fully sponsor Spirit but wanted them to field a "red" uniform.  But they wanted to field a blue uniform & went with a partial Delta Airlines sponsorship thus the Delta logo.  Not sure of it's true or a partial truth, but I would have fielded a Coca-Cola red uniform with the vintage bottle on the sleeve.  I Would have also served free Coke at the souvie trailer. 😆

Back in the 60’s there was a corps on Long Island, the Islanders, that was sponsored by 7-UP bottling. They wore green unis with orange and white trim, had the 7-UP logo on their unis, as well as a logo on the bass drum heads.

Also a senior corps sponsored by Balantine Beer, the Brewers.

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, Vuitton said:

I like props and electronics (and trombones - I love them), but all these things add up. They increase not only equipment costs, but transportation costs (as more space is needed to lug these things around all season).

IMO DCI needs to get back to the basics - no props, no electronics. I realize this is a small piece of the problem, but everything adds up.

Between those costs, new uniforms every year, and the huge staffs it costs so much to run a corps. DCI needs to dial it down and these top corps need to start being more concerned about their health and the overall health of the activity rather than just winning.

Vanguard was just the beginning, Cadets are the continuation. If people think it's only going to happen to them they are gravely mistaken. 

The way the activity is run today just isn't sustainable. 

Cut spring training in half. 6 figure budget savings 

[ContraFart]

1 minute ago, JimF-LowBari said:

So another cost item is brought up and your response is to blame it on people’s prejudice 

Is there or is there not a loud vocal minority who hates modern drum corps? And is it or is it not true that that parts of modern drum corps they hate become the focal point of the discussion any time a corps folds?

I'm just calling that correlation out. That's all.

[bluehull]

15 hours ago, Newseditor44 said:

The issue is simple, the cost to operate a drum corps has out-paced the revenue models that are sustainable for most orgs. Fundraising dollars are no longer enough to push 6 busses and 4 trucks down the road anymore. DCI has not done enough to contain the costs, and the writing has been on the wall for sometime now. The fact that they haven’t moved to in a direction to proactively cut costs, coupled with inflation and increases in food, fuel and housing, will make it very difficult for corps to survive another five years. This is just the beginning. To be fair, this is not solely on DCI, but they share the blame. 

Diesel price per gal. in 2018  2,65 per gal.

Diesel price per gal in 2023   4.49 per gal

The average fuel to top off tanks in a freightliner, volvo. or kenworth tractor on tour is 130 gals every 3.5 days ( this is low ball )  The cost for three tractors during a 57 day tour in 2018 for these three was roughly $ 16,716..... In 2023 with the same consumption and tour length  was approx. $ 28,333

This does not take into consideration West Coast corps  extended mileage to and from Cal. and Ariz.  The differential would have almost paid the wages of 2 Class 'A' CDL drivers for full tour.  As mentioned by others, the commercial construction of props has to be substantial also.

[cixelsyd]

35 minutes ago, ContraFart said:

I meant scale down cost wise. 

BK and Academy are fielding corps next year so maybe their large props weren't an issue.

So far... 

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, ContraFart said:

Again I will say like a broken record that those who look at props and electronics as the problem are blaming the smallest line item on the budget. 

New uniforms are a negligible cost and are sometimes even incorporated into member fees. I dont even think Cadets had to pay Stanbury for their uniforms last year. Instruments are purchased at wholesale and can even be sold for a small profit.  Staffs are huge in number, but they are changed in and out all summer and there at most 15-20 staff on tour at any given time. Staffs do not tour all summer like they used to. 

I think we need to realize that no 2 situations are exactly the same. Yes the costs of tour are high, but that does not mean the model is unsustainable. It means that the corps need to rethink the revenue model of the activity. There is no silver bullet. 

Cadets I know for sure consigned a ton of old guard stuff and made money on it. I was there to put it in the warehouse and delivered a lot of it to the ups store to ship it out. 

[IllianaLancerContra]

6 minutes ago, MikeD said:

Back in the 60’s there was a corps on Long Island, the Islanders, that was sponsored by 7-UP bottling. They wore green unis with orange and white trim, had the 7-UP logo on their unis, as well as a logo on the bass drum heads.

Also a senior corps sponsored by Balantine Beer, the Brewers.

Also Hamms Indians.  

[Slingerland]

1 minute ago, scheherazadesghost said:

I only brought it up for its lack of mission alignment.

Doesn’t bother me in the least. Bingo has nothing to do with BD’s mission, but they use it to support their mission (quite successfully). If it makes the services for the members more affordable, then it’s a win.

[ContraFart]

3 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

So far... 

Are you breaking some news?

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, skevinp said:

Ticket sales remain strong AFAIK, plus movies and Flo watchers now would add something even beyond what we had 20 years ago. 

So if financial support from the community is down, maybe it is because today’s fan base is more transitory, disappearing long before they accumulate the kind of wealth needed to become big donors.  

If that is true:

- Maybe it is time to stop using strong attendance numbers to mock others for being concerned drum corps is dying. 

- Maybe it’s time to stop bashing “dinos”.  

- Maybe more things others can add.  

It means corps are getting enough from the community they claim as home. Granted running camps in towns other the home town doesn’t increase visibility. Quick…. What’s Madison do in Madison? Where does blue stars have camps? For cadets the base is eastern pa and Jersey. So they moved to Erie which saw a resurrected all age corps fail within 3 years. Getting to Erie isn’t cheap or easy and go 30 minutes west or south you have more deer and elk than humans