Where will the growth take place?

[NachoLibre190]

On 12/1/2025 at 2:13 PM, mcjordansc said:

This is what I think needs to be done. 

1. Create a unified parent organization—“Marching Arts Alliance”—combining DCI, WGI, BOA, and SoundSport for shared resources, media, and sponsorship. 

2. Restructure DCI into two competitive tiers:

   • Premier Division (17–18 corps) as the “Major League.”

   • Championship Division (Open Class) as a developmental league with reduced touring costs.

3. Adopt a promotion/relegation system similar to Major League Soccer or European football: bottom corps in Premier move down; top corps in Championship move up (pending readiness standards).

4. Expand SoundSport into true regional leagues that act as feeders for Open Class—low cost, flexible instrumentation, festival-style events.

5. Implement regional touring pods for the first half of the season to drastically reduce travel expenses for all divisions.

6. Shift only the top corps into a shorter national tour window (mid-July to championships), while others finish their seasons at regional championships.

7. Create shared housing networks and fleet co-ops to reduce bus, truck, and housing costs across all corps.

8. Launch a unified streaming platform offering DCI/WGI/BOA/SoundSport under one subscription with docuseries, behind-the-scenes content, and interactive features.

9. Develop a “Marching Arts Academy” to certify staff, support member safety, and promote consistent educational standards across all circuits.

10. Use a clear “talent ladder” to grow participation: SoundSport → Open Class → Premier Division, giving every group a pathway upward and creating a healthier, more sustainable marching-arts ecosystem.

Weirdly, I was thinking of promotion/relegation with DCI after getting into the EFL this year (English Football League). So many countries adopt this with their major sports leagues as well. Your ideas overall here could be extremely helpful but, the changes could be too radical as well. This will continue to be a difficult issue to work out.

Edited December 4, 2025 by NachoLibre190

[wolfgang]

7 minutes ago, NachoLibre190 said:

Weirdly, I was thinking of promotion/relegation with DCI after getting into the EFL this year (English Football League). So many countries adopt this with their major sports leagues as well. Your ideas overall here could be extremely helpful but, the changes could be too radical as well. This will continue to be a difficult issue to work out.

One differing factor:  soccer is an objective game. Ie- the score is obvious the entire game based in how many goals are scored.

Any pageantry event is subjectively scored. Remember how messed up Division 1 college football was when the National Championship was determined by who got the most AP votes?

That may not matter much in the big picture, but it is a difference between stick and ball sports vs pageantry, figure skating, or gymnastics (both of which could be interpreted as a type of pageantry).

[NachoLibre190]

1 minute ago, wolfgang said:

One differing factor:  soccer is an objective game. Ie- the score is obvious the entire game based in how many goals are scored.

Any pageantry event is subjectively scored. Remember how messed up Division 1 college football was when the National Championship was determined by who got the most AP votes?

That may not matter much in the big picture, but it is a difference between stick and ball sports vs pageantry, figure skating, or gymnastics (both of which could be interpreted as a type of pageantry).

Fair. It is probably unnecessary to promote and relegate if we are subjectively judging everyone anyways on the same scale. Frankly, I wish promotion/relegation were in more objective games across America but that's a completely different topic.

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, wolfgang said:

One differing factor:  soccer is an objective game. Ie- the score is obvious the entire game based in how many goals are scored.

Any pageantry event is subjectively scored. Remember how messed up Division 1 college football was when the National Championship was determined by who got the most AP votes?

That may not matter much in the big picture, but it is a difference between stick and ball sports vs pageantry, figure skating, or gymnastics (both of which could be interpreted as a type of pageantry).

the football playoff still has it's issues.

[perc2100]

2 hours ago, NachoLibre190 said:

Fair. It is probably unnecessary to promote and relegate if we are subjectively judging everyone anyways on the same scale. Frankly, I wish promotion/relegation were in more objective games across America but that's a completely different topic.

You & me both!  I hate MLS/US Soccer doesn't have promotion/relegation when they already have two competitive tiers of pro soccer.  BUT, I can see nowadays having to invest half a billion in a franchise pay-to-play membership fee, only to be relegated after a few years playing really small clubs and not making much money.

To bring it back to drum corps, I think it's fair to have some sort of competitive standard to maintain World Class DCI membership, as it was in the 1980's & 90's at least: DCI has already kind of/sort of lived through a 'promotion/relegation' system (Limited Edition was a Div. 2/Open Class corps in the 1980's, made World Class due to competitive placement in 1989, and after failing to hit Top 25/DCI Member status placement in 1990 they went back to Div. 2/Open Class in 1991).  

[perc2100]

37 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

the football playoff still has it's issues.

Right, and the higher you make it up the ranks, the more expensive your budget must be in order to compete.  Be relegated can be OK if a team is bleeding money and needs to pull back a bit spending-wise, but can be problematic if promoted but unable to spend to improve the club, thus getting killed almost every match.  It's rare that all teams promoted to the Premier League make it to the next season w/out being relegated (that happened recently!), and statistically if you're promoted to Championship League (2nd division in England), or EPL (top division) you're more likely to quickly get relegated than to have staying power.  Leicester City WON the Premier league in 2015/2016 and was relegated back down to Championship League in 2023; then back to EPL 2024-2025, and is now back in Championship League for 25-26 (they're currently sitting lower-middle of the Championship table)!

[greg_orangecounty]

I hope I’ve exited the planet before it happens, but to stand a chance the traditional definition of what a “Drum & Bugle Corps” is will probably need to change even further.  Let in woodwinds, cheerleaders/dance groups, choral, gymnastics, orchestra, and maybe even actors. Small elements of these already exist so why not go full force and be summer marching Broadway outdoors?

The idea makes me nauseous, but what we have now stands no chance of survival that I can see. 

 

 

[jwillis35]

I know that for now the Open Class and All-Age Corps need the World Class units more, but I kind of wonder if we get to a point that All-Age Corps, in particular, become even more popular due to cost and schedule and we see more growth. For a while I wondered if Sound Sport could grow a bit more, and maybe it can but I am not sure it has the power to draw lots of people without larger drum corps performing. 

[Chief Guns]

On 12/1/2025 at 3:43 PM, TenHut said:

4. Corps members must be from a specified region. IE: Cavys members must be from the Midwest. 

 

 

With the tons of talent that heads up north to Concord, Santa Clara, Sacramento, not to mention all the talent that leaves SoCal and goes out of state to other corps, if Pacific Crest was allowed to throw a net over Southern California, speaking from a talent perspective, PC would be a instant medalist. 

[mjoakes]

I don't know how schedules work for WGI and BOA kinds of events. Their championships are popular. But do these take place after several weeks of competitions on a tour?