Finals Week

[kevingamin]

I've posted this before, but here's my proposed Championship week format:

Monday - Division II/III Prelims. All corps who did not compete at at least ONE Division I regional event are automatically classified as Division II or III based on corps size and, therefore, will be scheduled to compete on Monday. Corps who did not compete in Division II/III regional competition will go on first in random order, the remainder in reverse order of their regional scores average. Top 9 from each division advance to Tuesday.

Tuesday - Division II/III Semifinals - Corps perform in reverse order of finish from Monday. Top 3 from each division as well as the next 6 highest scoring corps regardless of division advance to Wednesday.

Wednesday - Division II/III Finals and Opening Ceremonies - Based on the Wednesday night format used in 1999 (and other years). Highest scoring corps in each division will be crowned Division Champions. Highest overall score earns Grand Champion status. Top 6 corps advance to Thursday, regardless of division.

Thursday - Division I Quarterfinals - Division II/III corps compete first in reverse order of finish from Wednesday, followed by all Division I qualifiers competing in reverse order of average scores from Division I regionals. If a Division II/III corps makes Top 21, they have the option to declare Division I status for the following year. This means they are required to attend at least ONE Division I regional. A decision to remain Division II/III will result in forfeiting prize money awarded for Quarterfinals placement (a flat "performance award" will be given instead) and those corps will not advance further. Top 17 corps advance to Friday.

Friday - Division I Semifinals - Corps perform in reverse order of finish. Top 12 corps advance to Saturday.

Saturday - Division I Finals - Division II/III champions perform in exhibition unless they have qualified for Division I Finals. In that case the next highest corps in the division will perform the exhibition. Corps perform in reverse order of finish.

[DCguy2002]

The biggest problem with it At least from my point of view as a performer is that grand finals is at the absolute worst time of the day. Going to perform your show at 1 oclock in 100 degree heat is no fun at all, but im sure theyll come up with something that works better sooner or later

[Phirefenix]

The biggest problem with it At least from my point of view as a performer is that grand finals is at the absolute worst time of the day. Going to perform your show at 1 oclock in 100 degree heat is no fun at all, but im sure theyll come up with something that works better sooner or later

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Word. It was stifling that whole day. I just wanted to be done with it all by the time I got to the gate. I tried to just get over it, and continue like any other show. Though it just wasn't possible.

[SoonerFan04]

The biggest problem with it At least from my point of view as a performer is that grand finals is at the absolute worst time of the day. Going to perform your show at 1 oclock in 100 degree heat is no fun at all, but im sure theyll come up with something that works better sooner or later

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Word. It was stifling that whole day. I just wanted to be done with it all by the time I got to the gate.  I tried to just get over it, and continue like any other show. Though it just wasn't possible.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No kidding. I thought finals were in MA this year? Sure didn't feel like it. lol We went on first for prelims at around 9-10 o'clock in the morning and it already felt around 100 degrees out there. After waking up at 5:30 that morning, unloading the equipment trailer and then pushing all the pit equipment to the gate in that heat...it was pretty difficult coming up with enough energy for the show.

The times are about the same for Madison next year...10am for Prelims, 9am for "Finals", and 11am for Grand Finals... :(

[FalloutTheory05]

There is only one slight problem with kevingamin's schedule idea, where do you put I & E's? ususally there on wednesday but you already have something scheduled there what day would you put them on?

[liebot]

well, if finals started at night (around 7ish) then I&E could still be during the day like it usually is.. that might mean that div 2 corps might not be able to do I&E or might have to miss rehearsal time to do I&E, but i don't think that they would directly interfere with each other.

[kevingamin]

There is only one slight problem with kevingamin's schedule idea, where do you put I & E's? ususally there on wednesday but you already have something scheduled there what day would you put them on?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I&E is regularly during the day on Wednesday. Since Div. II/III Finals is not until Wednesday night, there won't be a schedule conflict except for those I&E participants who are also in Finalist corps that night. Unfortunately, unless we just have a Prelims and a Finals for Div. II/III on Monday and Tuesday, there's not much of a way around this.

My goal was to make sure that each event was THE event for that particular day, which means that start times would be later (5 PM for II/III Finals, for example), lowering the chances that the first corps of the day would step off at 8 AM, as well as raising the chances that corps would compete under the lights as drum corps SHOULD be.

One thing DCI did when they held the Opening Ceremonies and Div. II/III Finals jointly was include the I&E championship performances between corps. I thought this was a great way to showcase the winners and get more exposure for the I&E event.

[Orpheus]

I've posted this before, but here's my proposed Championship week format:

Makes sense to me! We can only dream.

I do have one little idea, though, that might be nice if DCI decides to stick with something like the current format. Have D2/3 Finals (by which I actually do mean *FINALS* -- the last show of the week) on Friday night after D1 Semis at the same site. It'd be a single ticket, at the same price as a D1 Semis ticket is now, for both events. And no, that wouldn't be too many corps for one day. If you take 17 for D1 Semis and 12 for D2/3 Finals, well ... in the past there were a lot of times when DCI might have more than 29 corps going on a single day, right? No biggie. Of course, I know it'd never happen, because the D1 corps would never vote to have to perform during the heat of the day.

[kevingamin]

Makes sense to me!  We can only dream.

I do have one little idea, though, that might be nice if DCI decides to stick with something like the current format.  Have D2/3 Finals (by which I actually do mean *FINALS* -- the last show of the week) on Friday night after D1 Semis at the same site.  It'd be a single ticket, at the same price as a D1 Semis ticket is now, for both events.  And no, that wouldn't be too many corps for one day.  If you take 17 for D1 Semis and 12 for D2/3 Finals, well ... in the past there were a lot of times when DCI might have more than 29 corps going on a single day, right?  No biggie.  Of course, I know it'd never happen, because the D1 corps would never vote to have to perform during the heat of the day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Only problem I see is that Quarterfinals from the day before has AT LEAST 24 corps so that's 53 performances in two days. Might be more than some people can handle. Add to that the earlier start time to accomodate all those corps on Friday and that's also a lot of time at the stadium and we haven't even gotten to Satruday yet

[Orpheus]

I don't see the problem. Let's take the Open Class competition from 1984 as an example ... 27 corps in Prelims on Wednesday, 25 corps in Quarters on Thursday, and 25 in Semis on Friday. In 1980, somehow, they managed to have 44 corps in competition at Open Class Prelims! Sounds nuts, but I don't think 27 corps on one day or 53 over the course of two days is too many.