TrenBS

Its a nice stadium with solid judges and good logistics, and bedford wasnt on this date originally so for an early season performance its a no brainer Wylies stadium is on the older end and HEB is a BOA oriented competition, so for UIL priority groups Melissa is the only option in DFW with all the perks

Its interesting that Hebrons commiting to Melissa over Bedford, probably wants the show in a more completed state before getting a BOA rank

Guard rule is a no brainer, colorguard should have more impact across the board and having their own judge is very appropriate for the state contest. For rule 1 (not CG) I dont think its necessarily a setup for D2 contests rather its so bands success are reliant on completely different programs being successful at region. I dont think it should pass for 2A-4A, but 5A-6A it feels like a no brainer considering it only adds 1-2 slots each Rule 2 just needs a little more definition (what declares a round up? 21 to 5 slots or use a top half system where you need 23-24 to have 5 slots? Where is the line) but otherwise this should absolutely pass in some form at the very least for 4A-6A due to declining enrollment being combined with way more dense, competitive areas. Rule 3 and 5 just depend on how fast UIL wants to make these sort of changes (rule 3 needs an announcement 1 year+ in advance for scheduling and rule 5 needs enough judges to not spread the state thin) Rule 4 should exist for UIL because it has a fundamentally different scoring system than BOA. BOA is much more “bubble” based where point differences in a sub caption is much more deliberate (a 28 in GE is COMPLETELY different to a 34 in GE) and compared only to bands relative to each other which UIL uses ordinals, and makes scoring COMPLETELY comparison based. At 2022 state almost everyone down to 20 were within 30-70 points out of 1000 to each other and in the same 2-3 sub-boxes, which means schools like Dawson, if using the BOA system, were darn close to Hebron in about every regard (This got fixed with stricter criteria post 2021-2022) (everyone is relative to 1st place rather than the bubble in BOA along with point differences having significantly more meaning). Movement to the top from the bottom is much harder when the bottom is all clustered together and does create bias since theyre all compared to each other resulting in lower ordinal scores compared to the top half, which for smaller areas only emphasizes a divide which could be nonexistent. I along with others argue that UIL should just be random performance time in general for finals rather than the 4-5 rhetoric, since schools like Vandegrift and Hebron could perform 1st and make state regardless, which would also make it easier for judges to properly compare and score relative to the top since the finalists will play right next to bands competing to merely qualify.

Now that TXbands is fixed (hooray!) we can finally discuss the rule changes that UIL proposed in their fall meeting agenda. The most interesting ones to me are the guard judge at the 5A/6A SMBC and rules 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9 (9 for a completely different reason than the others). This could change the near future structure of UIL marching and have major implications for future changes moving forward, but what do yall think?

ITS FIXED YAY

I didnt think small divisions were going to see much change since they usually correct themselves once the district gets enough resources, which usually is followed by increasing enrollment (Argyle for example) 5A changes Im frankly uncertain how they will approach it with the top 3 and some others moving up, maybe area B splits a region off to balance the areas, but that seems like a middle-low priority especially with Wakeland moving up and the area correcting itself eventually 6A is a complete coin toss, I hope they dissolve J and just do big areas as 6A enrollment in DFW declines on average, but thats not even looking at the Mid-East Texas areas which also need realignment bad

Ideally, 2026 because of Wakeland I dont see a world where UIL lets Area J with 5 state finalist level groups exist at the same time as an Area C with 2 bands barely cracking the 20s and having the first non Area A/G band place in the bottom 3 for the first time in years exist at the same time Plus with declining enrollment combining the areas future proofs the issues we face with lower 6A numbers in DFW such as with Waxahachie

Just for good faith heres a mockup of what I think the top 15-14 would look by the 2028 alignment cycle, assuming Waxahachie moves down and B breaks 35 bands with new 6As in Prosper and other districts Like I said B is a little more strict, but it makes WAY more sense than the current form (for 2026 alignment just put Wax in 4th) EDIT: I misspoke in the initial post, B having 24 and 25 causes the rosters to be aligned band roster wise, so this is what I meant, apologies

You cant do this at all (swapping regions). Removing even one region that isnt 2 creates an LISD monopoly because theres only 3 slots for state now, and moving 2 anywhere creates an area with less than 15 bands, which is only 2 state slots between WylieISD, ProsperISD, Wakeland, and McKinneyISD which makes zero sense from a logistical standpoint and a balance stand point. You also cant really move individual districts without just flat out gerrymandering and it throws the alignment map way out of whack, only time this is done is for small division alignment where there is significantly more space between schools, so you need to look at it from a region by region standpoint. Area J was made ("geographical representation" is flat out wrong and dis-proven from this past alignment cycle) to counter the rising enrollment and size of 6A classification in DFW, which is no longer the case, clearly.) Area C now has ZERO potential state finalists in the short run (which they've had ZERO total since the J establishment) unless Forney just magically improves way faster then they have been the last 4 years and outpaces Prosper, LD Bell, 7 Lakes, Cy Fair, and the other bands that have significantly more momentum and show it more than Forney has (not impossible, but Im not holding my breath for something so random). J needs to be dissolved because its existence is problematic in just about every capacity for anyone not named "Hebron" "Marcus" "Flower Mound" or "Prosper". J needs to be dissolved, move 2 to C and 24/25 to B, with Waxahachie going away that makes the other 3 state slots that are a part of C open for Rockwall, Wylie, Garland, and Forney districts to compete in, B is a little more cutthroat but it allows Southlake Keller and McKinney districts the CHANCE to succeed with more available slots (especially with Timber being consistent and Keller sitting in the high teens-low 20s), and is overall WAY better balanced, and logistically removing the need for 5 extra judges, a stadium to host it at, and volunteers, which with higher density areas roster wise adds way more man power

The Blue Devils just "randomly" posted their multicam on youtube super high quality for free, so I imagine we know where BD staff stands with this stuff going on haha

North is a true wildcard right now, these past 2 years they've made A LOT of money (revenue is literally DOUBLE their expenses), and a lot of what I heard there was a ton of internal changes after the head director left which negatively affected them in the short run. That being said, I think they range from 2nd-6th, behind potentially Melissa Speaking of, Melissas new head (to me) seems really good. Internally the band is ran with performance as the priority and is very well structured and the director is extremely pragmatic. If 5 go to state here Id honestly have them as a lock from potential performance ability alone. Very statistics based with their improvement and its a fat incline individually, will just depend how well this will transfer to marching band

Im talking purely about 6A, just because a region changes in one division doesnt mean it changes for all of them

Its just the 2024 map right now, and I expect J to get split to B and C with 24 to B and 2/25 to C. If not, then UIL is likely making a major rule change that will affect how area functions since H and J are downright horrible at the moment and B/C are starting to lag behind some of the other areas with the high state bubble

Made this for fun, just splitting J and balancing the two

Surprisingly lower than what I was expecting, and McKinney Boyd being the biggest was interesting… I also heard they may take 220 bands instead of 250 into 6A, which could dramatically change the rosters