AlsoIntoSpace

Do you know the other Regions that voted against it? LISD's Region also has Lake Travis and Westlake, so they clearly have very strong music/marching programs. I'd be interested to see if the other Regions that voted against it were similar in having strong band programs (especially in BOA). I'm a bit worried that come 2021 certain bands will have to miss SA because they're effectively forced to do UIL. Some bands are affected by that this year but it'll be more significant when it impacts the 6A schools and you potentially see only half your finalists return (I also have no idea if that would actually happen as I have no inside info). Then again, surely MFA/BOA is aware of that and the calendar could be adjusted.

Waco just got a lot more exciting! Maybe I'll finally get to see Leander live... Interesting (but not surprising) to see them forgo 5A Area. I know some districts/schools would never let their bands miss a UIL event.

Southlake Carroll's 2020 show: "Mystify" We're currently planning on attending: Mansfield Preview of Champions, Sept. 26th Plano East Marching Invitational, Oct. 3rd BOA D/FW, Oct. 10th UIL Region 31, Oct. 13th (Tuesday) BOA Waco, Oct. 17th UIL 6A Area B, Oct. 24th We had planned to return to the St. Louis Super Regional, but sadly we've had to limit travel this fall due to the whole pandemic thing. That said, we're still optimistic and planning for a season even if it looks different from what we're used to.

Wakeland announced their 2020 show "Rise" https://www.instagram.com/p/B-N8yMTJ3ZE/ It was posted a couple of weeks ago, but it doesn't look like anyone's mentioned it here so thought I'd share.

I've got mixed feelings about this. Our band has missed finals but still been in the top 12 at a regional for each of the past two years (12th at Austin in 2018 and again at D/FW in 2019). On one hand we would've been thrilled to be in finals, but on the other hand, I felt like this upcoming year could've been the year we broke into that top 10. So while making finals still would still be exciting, I wouldn't want to make finals solely because they advance more bands. It would still be an accomplishment of course, but I'm not sure it would have the same sense of achievement. But then again, there's certainly plenty of bands that missed finals that I think a lot of people thought should've been in finals (most notably, Round Rock missing finals in Austin this year). Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how this shakes things up. The only I've got question is how local BOA Regional-esque competitions will react. For example, would the HEB Marching Contest and Texas Marching Classic expand to 12 finalists too, or would they stay at 10?

So what do we think about Texas bands traveling out of state this year? I know there's usually a handful that go to St. Louis or even the Indy Super Regional, but I'm not sure what that'll look like with Area or certain Regions. Obviously Grand Nats is a separate topic with its date being well into November. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the only change I see this year is effectively switching the dates for Midland and D/FW. My guess is that since Houston and Midland are on opposite sides of the state, BOA put them on the same weekend because it's less likely that a band would attend both of those. Essentially, a D/FW band could possibly attend both D/FW and Houston or Midland, but a Houston band most likely wouldn't travel all the way to Midland. This is all assuming, of course, that there's a strategy here, but there's also just a good chance that one of the venues had a scheduling conflict. Personally, I have a feeling that 2020 will be something special, but maybe that's just me getting hyped about my senior year. Anyways, it'll be interesting to see who ends up going where.