End of an Era - Corps Blocks of Tickets to Major Shows

[dcifanforlife]

Getting the best seats to major shows has been a challenge for everyone since the beginning of DCI.  Corps have always controlled large blocks of tickets to major shows.  You had to learn which corps had the best seats available.  DCI gave the printed tickets to the corps to sell and if they didn't sell all of their allotment you had people from the corps selling outside of the stadiums.   If you needed  seats on the fifty at Finals and if you were willing to wait you just had to walk around  until you found good seats for sell.  In 1978 in Denver I had seats on 10 yard line from DCI.   I sold them outside of stadium an hour before start of Finals for tickets on 35 yard line. Then 15 minutes before Finals I got tickets on the fifty upper deck.

Selling paper tickets was time consuming  for corps to manage.  Once paperless tickets became available Corps told DCI how many tickets they wanted and in what sections.  If they didn't sell the tickets reverted back to DCI on  a specific date. Corps didn't release their access code until all top donors,  alums and parents had to time to buy.  Nevertheless  the top Corps had good seats available and they got a portion of the sell price for the corps.  I don't like to sit in the same seat all three nights so in past I have purchased  tickets from three different corps in three different sections.

Starting Monday 12-02-24 at noon  DCI will start selling tickets for Championships in all sections (No sections for corps to sell) except for the Friends sections, If you want part of your ticket price to go to a particular corps you will have enter their code.  Unless a corps notifies their fans to buy in a particular section  this change is going to breakup corps sections.

[Sh0uldN0t]

Could it be you're lamenting a system that was always inefficient? Or maybe you're not lamenting its demise, in which case I apologize for suggesting that. 

There were numerous problems with corps blocks, beginning with the allocation of those blocks. Who gets the 50? The corps that performed best last year? That sold the most tickets last year? Neither necessarily forecast sales for this year (except perhaps BDs inevitable success?). Then there was positioning. Low or high? Or for certain shows, certain years - left or right? 

To the extent that the block sales were meant to be fund raisers for the corps, this too was inefficient. Sure, probably it generated some revenue from individuals who otherwise wouldn't have given. More likely it might have led some donors to believe they were giving more to the corps than the corps actually received. If you mean to support a corps, give directly. Ticket sales and t-shirts don't generate that much. 

The best reason for the blocks was so like-minded fans could sit together. Parents of kids in particular might have enjoyed having this solution organized by someone else. You'd think technology being what it is, this still would be possible. Might even still be possible to share a little revenue with the corps (beyond the macro revenue sharing that already is in place).

 

[GREENBLUE]

Blast Zone here we come!! lol. 139/140/141 

see y’all there.

[wonker]

Unless DCI is holding back tickets or expanding the Friends sections, as of 3PM there were exactly ZERO seats available in 139/140/141.

[GREENBLUE]

1 hour ago, wonker said:

Unless DCI is holding back tickets or expanding the Friends sections, as of 3PM there were exactly ZERO seats available in 139/140/141.

Wow. I got on right when they became available. With this new system I wonder if people are buying them up to resale them. I liked the “code” system better.

Edited December 2, 2024 by GREENBLUE

[wonker]

I wonder if those were only available as part of Super-3 packages and sold out?

[GREENBLUE]

10 minutes ago, wonker said:

I wonder if those were only available as part of Super-3 packages and sold out?

Nope. Got mine this morning.

I was right tickets are already on seat geek. People bought them up to make a buck.
The super 3 could be the reason why there were less available in those sections this year. 

Edited December 2, 2024 by GREENBLUE

[Jeff Ream]

On 12/1/2024 at 12:56 PM, Sh0uldN0t said:

Could it be you're lamenting a system that was always inefficient? Or maybe you're not lamenting its demise, in which case I apologize for suggesting that. 

There were numerous problems with corps blocks, beginning with the allocation of those blocks. Who gets the 50? The corps that performed best last year? That sold the most tickets last year? Neither necessarily forecast sales for this year (except perhaps BDs inevitable success?). Then there was positioning. Low or high? Or for certain shows, certain years - left or right? 

To the extent that the block sales were meant to be fund raisers for the corps, this too was inefficient. Sure, probably it generated some revenue from individuals who otherwise wouldn't have given. More likely it might have led some donors to believe they were giving more to the corps than the corps actually received. If you mean to support a corps, give directly. Ticket sales and t-shirts don't generate that much. 

The best reason for the blocks was so like-minded fans could sit together. Parents of kids in particular might have enjoyed having this solution organized by someone else. You'd think technology being what it is, this still would be possible. Might even still be possible to share a little revenue with the corps (beyond the macro revenue sharing that already is in place).

 

this. all of this.  i once rushed to a top name...and got the 25 yard line

[Tim K]

Some tickets are still sold in blocks. I’ve been sitting in the same block in the 140 section since 2016, it’s not a block sponsored by a corps. Everyone in the block has to commit in July for the following year and the tickets have to be paid for by finals the previous year, so I leave Indy each year knowing my tickets are paid for. I don’t know how many other blocks there are that are not Friends of DCI or sponsored by a corps. I would wonder if the corps now have to pay for the tickets up front. If they don’t make that much on reselling the tickets, does that freeze funds that may be needed earlier?

[drumcorpsfever]

On 12/2/2024 at 3:31 PM, wonker said:

Unless DCI is holding back tickets or expanding the Friends sections, as of 3PM there were exactly ZERO seats available in 139/140/141.

That's unfortunate.  Hate to say it, but any seat outside of the middle sections of LOS for drum corps is not worth it. The sound in the dome is awful - except in the middle sections - which is where we've always sat.