We're ALL suckers...

[Michael Boo]

As someone who witnessed first hand the marketing debacle that was Miami 1983, my guess would be YES. DCI almost lost it's collective shirt on that one, especially since toward the end of the season it looked like a done deal that Garfield's show, being light-years ahead of anything else out there, was a shoo-in for an undefeated season. During the first part of Finals Week that year (I was there the whole week - saw every show), the stadium was an echo chamber - there were times that maybe 20 people were in the stands. When Garfield lost on Friday night, there were grumblings that DCI rigged it to create controversy for Saturday - thus, selling more tickets. ...

I remember hearing that theory while I was in Miami, and the only thing I could think was imagining someone over a thousand miles away saying, "Garfield lost, Mildred. Grab your suitcase. We're heading to Miami." And as far fetched as that was, we hear things more far fetched almost every week on our faithful Internet.

[mace]

DUUUHHHHH! YOU THINK?

Where have you folks been? Mars? DCI has been playing the "build suspense, sell tickets" game for many years! Remember 1978? How many times has Phantom Regiment taken it on the chin "for the good of the activity"? Could DCI really let the Blue Devils and Sata Clara Vanguard have clear, unchallenged dominance over the rest of the field? Someone had to be a legitimate contender for the title! How about 1981 or 1984? Who could predict a winner in those years? Was 1993 really the year the best corps on the field won? Many people wanted to see Star of Indiana get beat, so DCI arranged it, with a lot of suspense! To get people to go to Jackson, Mississippi, they had to play the game! Let's take a look at the many years we had ties at the top for the title? Ties going into 1/2 finals and even FINALS? Many ties for 12th place have taken place over the years. Regional favorites have been admitted to Finals under somewhat suspect circumstances too! Bridgemen got DQ'ed, Garfield made finals as a 13th corps, and lots more happened in 1978! It all served to BUILD SUSPENSE and thusly, SELL TICKETS! I am sure that many people can give additional examples of how suspense was built during the season and during Finals week to get more people into the stadium.

DCI is a business, an ENTERTAINMENT business. DCI is smart. They will do "whatever" to get our butts into the seats, PERIOD.

The best drum corps marketing strategy is to build suspense at the local and regional shows so that the bigger regional and national shows will have bigger crouds! It is also part of the reason we have seen a HUGE jump in ticket prices since 1992!

This was not meant to be offensive, just a little funny.

Yours in drum corps,

I find no problem with smart marketing of the activity through management of the tour and lineups.

However, surely one cannot believe that the any significant number of DCI judges would collude in such a scheme. Many of them are educators and adjudicate for numerous other musical organizations. Yes - they may apply their personal biases to judging - when has that not been the case? But to assume that any significant percentage of them would be ethically disposed (or stupid enough) to collude in such an "excitement scheme" is definitely in the "foil hat" league of thinking.

And the "huge jump in ticket prices" is not inconsistent with costs for other types of events - driven largely by fuel and venue cost.

What say we just enjoy the excitement and unpredictability?

I can guarantee you that the Indianapolis tourism folks are already LOVING IT!