2026 BOA Grand National Championships (Nov 12-14)

[utee94]

8 hours ago, Pre123 said:

Really curious how bridgeland managed to do uil state 6a finals and grand nats last year, considering state finals was on tuesday of the same week as grand nats. 6a powerhouses never go the year state coincides, both 2022 and 2024, so really curious how bridgeland managed to do so.

It's a good question.  I'd imagine they were really, really tired.

My kids were completely exhausted for their Grand Nats trip last year, and they were 5A.  So they did UIL State 5A Mon/Tue, BOA San Antonio Fri/Sat, which means getting home around 2-3 AM Sunday morning. Then they had to cram for 3 days of missed school from the previous week, knowing they'd be missing another 2 days of school that next week.  They had a 3 AM call time Thursday morning in order to travel to Indianapolis all day Thursday, for a 5AM call time on Friday morning for their prelim performance at Grand Nationals.  It was a beating and although they appreciated the experience for the most part, they both expressed they didn't feel the need to ever go to Grand Nationals again.  

[natertater21000]

13 hours ago, lost said:

You are confused. It would change a lot for them. They're being held to a higher UIL standard, and they've demonstrated great interest in being successful in UIL. It's not crazy not to double the pressure of succeeding in their first year in 6A AND Nationals, one step at a time.  You have to just get better at reading between the lines, not everything is so obvious. 

BOA Classification has really nothing to do with it.

It would change a lot less than you think. Rouse is already beating a healthy number of 6A bands at BOA and the same would very likely apply at 6A state. Rouse would not need to radicaly change themselves to do well at 6A state. For example this exact same thing was done by Leander in 2016. They moved up to 6A, Went to BOA SA, 6A state, and Nats back to back to back. It was difficult but very much in the realm of possibility. They also placed in the top 6 of all three contests. I have no reason to believe Rouse would not be capable of a similar level of success. 

I could also very much see them not doing this due to the missed school time and the stress of it all, but I don't think they NEED to do baby steps in order to do well.

[RattlerDad]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

It's a good question.  I'd imagine they were really, really tired.

My kids were completely exhausted for their Grand Nats trip last year, and they were 5A.  So they did UIL State 5A Mon/Tue, BOA San Antonio Fri/Sat, which means getting home around 2-3 AM Sunday morning. Then they had to cram for 3 days of missed school from the previous week, knowing they'd be missing another 2 days of school that next week.  They had a 3 AM call time Thursday morning in order to travel to Indianapolis all day Thursday, for a 5AM call time on Friday morning for their prelim performance at Grand Nationals.  It was a beating and although they appreciated the experience for the most part, they both expressed they didn't feel the need to ever go to Grand Nationals again.  

Dripping Springs, FloMo, Marcus, The Woodlands, and Reagan all shared this schedule this year...and, my Reagan kiddo is pretty sick right now. It definitely takes a toll.

[utee94]

3 minutes ago, RattlerDad said:

Dripping Springs, FloMo, Marcus, The Woodlands, and Reagan all shared this schedule this year...and, my Reagan kiddo is pretty sick right now. It definitely takes a toll.

Yeah I'm not surprised, and I hope your young marcher recovers quickly.

The band creeping crud in the first two weeks of November is no joke.  The kids are so exhausted, and spend so much time in close proximity on buses and crowded rehearsal halls and whatnot, that it's pretty much inevitable. 

 

[BDC]

6 hours ago, natertater21000 said:

It would change a lot less than you think. Rouse is already beating a healthy number of 6A bands at BOA and the same would very likely apply at 6A state. Rouse would not need to radicaly change themselves to do well at 6A state. For example this exact same thing was done by Leander in 2016. They moved up to 6A, Went to BOA SA, 6A state, and Nats back to back to back. It was difficult but very much in the realm of possibility. They also placed in the top 6 of all three contests. I have no reason to believe Rouse would not be capable of a similar level of success. 

I could also very much see them not doing this due to the missed school time and the stress of it all, but I don't think they NEED to do baby steps in order to do well.

Thank you - that's what I was trying to say, but I just couldn't get the words out.  The only reason I brought up BOA classification was just for prelims placement - they would likely be 1st place in 3A if they were still considered 3A so taking advantage of that makes sense- and also they would likely place very high in all competitions anyway as is.  My thought process was actually taken from that Leander 2016 year.  I honestly do not see all of the 6A powerhouses forgoing GN just because of state a few days before. Might be crazy, but bands are able to do it.  I know from my own experience that those two weeks are heck if going to GN also, but it was so worth it.  

[anotherbandmom]

Curious how moving up to 6A holds bands to a higher standard. The scoring rubric is the same isnt it? Outside of the fact the competition is tougher, what else changes? Not to say heightened competition isnt enough. My son won't be at Rouse for the move (😭) but I do wonder how they'll fare. Rouse has seen plenty of BOA success against other 6A bands but UIL is different. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a GN trip from them for quite some time.

Edited November 18, 2025 by anotherbandmom
Added a crying emoji because leaving Rouse band makes me sad 😔

[bassboneman]

22 hours ago, utee94 said:

Yeah I'm not surprised, and I hope your young marcher recovers quickly.

The band creeping crud in the first two weeks of November is no joke.  The kids are so exhausted, and spend so much time in close proximity on buses and crowded rehearsal halls and whatnot, that it's pretty much inevitable. 

 

Yeah, in my band we call that the band sickness. Most time it goes completely un-diagnosed and we all have no idea what we get but we all get the same symptoms. It hits and your just like half sick for 3-4 weeks the whole time... 

[lost]

I didn't know where else to put this.

We talk a lot about nationals rotating (especially after this year) but the conclusion is always that it's largely unfeasible.

What if instead of bringing nationals to us, bands came to San Antonio instead?

Many Texan bands have national rotations and have had them for decades. What if out of state bands have San Antonio rotations? Avon came down in 2017, Blue Springs in 2013 and Carmel all the way back in 2002 amongst a few others throughout the years but few have ever come back.

What if every 4 or even every 6 years Avon had a dedicated San Antonio rotation? Where they forgo ISSMA and come throw it down with Texas. What if every few years Tarpon Springs decided to forgo a nationals trip and give San Antonio a try?

Granted there's a few obstacles to this, mainly prestige. To the none-marching-band eye even a "National Semifinals" designation looks stronger than "San Antonio participant" even if they placed 15th at San Antonio versus 25th at nationals. This San Antonio rotation would mainly serve to build credibility in marching circles, not outside of them.

However I think the thought experiment does raise a valid point. Texan bands year after year take the huge financial undertaking to make it out to Indianapolis, so why can't out of state bands meet us where we are and truly show they can come out victorious in the second most competitive marching show in the nation.

With some serious rebranding and outside prestige-building for the San Antonio super....it might attract a few bands. I think if Avon or Carmel had a San Antonio rotation and consistently beat Texan homers on their turf it would shift the balance of powers. 

In concept if Avon came every 4 years for example, they might choose to skip ISSMA. Texas bands already skip UIL (much less common nowadays to be fair, but it has happened!) so it wouldn't be unheard of. It's a similar financial undertaking that bands like Marcus, Hebron and Leander take every four years too...

Food for thought. I can definitely see why bands don't do San Antonio rotations......but it seems like the most plausible way to fan the flames. Plus it gives out of state homers a chance to truly prove their superiority that they boast about.

Carmel also won't be at San Antonio soon! They are traveling to the rose parade next year and that'll be their big expensive trip. Seems they like to take infrequent trips like this, going to Long Beach in 2017 over ISSMA for example. 

[bassboneman]

I think that's a interesting idea. again it all comes down to the money and the idea that why would you go to a semi vs the finals. I would probably cost Avon about the same to come down as it would cost us to go up to nats. 

[TrenBS]

I think nationals should rotate to showcase the whole country on a broader scale, even if we disregard Texas its a long trip for most of the country.

 The dream scenario without money or logistics issues is 4 grand nationals locations that are rotated around every year to feature all the cardinal areas of the country

North (Lucas Oil): Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Canadian border bands

South (Alamodome): Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona

East (Either Metlife or Meadowland, not really great options like the Alamodome or Lucas Oil): New Jersey/York, North/South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania

West (Valley Childrens stadium probably?): California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona

 

Obviously logistics and money make this very unlikely, but it would be cool seeing more diverse representation at the prelims/semis level,  since the top level besides the South nationals proposal obviously with Texas being so strong band wise

[Tubalord11]

6 minutes ago, TrenBS said:

I think nationals should rotate to showcase the whole country on a broader scale, even if we disregard Texas its a long trip for most of the country.

 The dream scenario without money or logistics issues is 4 grand nationals locations that are rotated around every year to feature all the cardinal areas of the country

North (Lucas Oil): Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Canadian border bands

South (Alamodome): Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona

East (Either Metlife or Meadowland, not really great options like the Alamodome or Lucas Oil): New Jersey/York, North/South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania

West (Valley Childrens stadium probably?): California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona

 

Obviously logistics and money make this very unlikely, but it would be cool seeing more diverse representation at the prelims/semis level,  since the top level besides the South nationals proposal obviously with Texas being so strong band wise

I actually like this idea. I think the biggest "issue" is that most bands would argue that they like to compete with the top bands from all states than just a certain region, but I could be wrong. It's just hard to name a national champion if they don't all compete in one place

[utee94]

9 minutes ago, Tubalord11 said:

I actually like this idea. I think the biggest "issue" is that most bands would argue that they like to compete with the top bands from all states than just a certain region, but I could be wrong. It's just hard to name a national champion if they don't all compete in one place

I agree that's a common protest to the proposal.  But that's not happening right now, anyway.  Currently only 5-7 bands from Texas participate in the Indianapolis contest each year.  And far fewer than that, from most other states that are even further away. 

 

 

 

 

[TrenBS]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

I agree that's a common protest to the proposal.  But that's not happening right now, anyway.  Currently only 5-7 bands from Texas participate in the Indianapolis contest each year.  And far fewer than that, from most other states that are even further away. 

 

 

 

 

Id argue since its pretty obvious that this is already a problem with Lucas Oil, that this proposal does a lot more to give the nation as a whole more representation since nationals is pretty unobtrusive to most state marching competitions, and having a rotating location again makes prelims/semis significantly more distinct since the bands closer to that area will participate rather than the ones who can afford 6+ hour trips year to year or are already close to Lucas Oil

[anotherbandmom]

Having a Grand National rotation wouldn't have to exclude bands who are willing and have the means to make the trip. If a band really wants to compete against specific bands and has the means to make the trip on their GN regional off year, why couldn't they? 

[ruben_f]

On 11/20/2025 at 11:57 AM, TrenBS said:

I think nationals should rotate to showcase the whole country on a broader scale, even if we disregard Texas its a long trip for most of the country.

 The dream scenario without money or logistics issues is 4 grand nationals locations that are rotated around every year to feature all the cardinal areas of the country

North (Lucas Oil): Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Canadian border bands

South (Alamodome): Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona

East (Either Metlife or Meadowland, not really great options like the Alamodome or Lucas Oil): New Jersey/York, North/South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania

West (Valley Childrens stadium probably?): California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona

 

Obviously logistics and money make this very unlikely, but it would be cool seeing more diverse representation at the prelims/semis level,  since the top level besides the South nationals proposal obviously with Texas being so strong band wise

If I were the owner of Bands of America/Music of All, I’d totally make this happen. I probably just take the top 12 in each region 😂

[dullbanddad]

Does BOA change the cut off for different classifications like UIL?

[frntbreak]

When does like the regional events for BOA should get posted? I remember it was released around this time last year.

[Anthony V]

On 12/1/2025 at 5:28 PM, dullbanddad said:

Does BOA change the cut off for different classifications like UIL?

I can't recall them doing that, but then again I wasn't looking for that information.

The only big change I remember happening was when they added 4A rather than having 3A be the largest classification. I'm pretty sure that happened in 2009.

[TWHSParent]

On 12/1/2025 at 6:28 PM, dullbanddad said:

Does BOA change the cut off for different classifications like UIL?

Yes, every 3 years per their handbook:

"Per our commitment to re-evaluate the classification system, classification numbers are examined and
reset every three (3) years by a procedure that considers the composition of Bands of America
Championship participation using three years of data. The maximum enrollment number for Class A
remains constant, while the enrollment levels for Classes AA, AAA, and AAAA are adjusted to levels (for
the next three years) that would have established equal, cumulative numbers of participants in each class
over the prior three (3) years. The current classification begins with the Fall 2025 season, and the next
reclassification will occur effective Fall 2028."

[BigTrombone]

On 12/14/2025 at 3:02 PM, frntbreak said:

When does like the regional events for BOA should get posted? I remember it was released around this time last year.

The official schedule will be released tomorrow morning at the start of the Midwest Clinic. However, a couple of regional dates & locations were accidentally revealed by MFA last week. Regarding the Texas Regionals, the North Houston Regional (Shenandoah) will be held September 26th, the South Houston Regional (returning to Iowa Colony) will be held October 3rd, both the West Texas (Midland) & North Texas (Prosper) Regionals will be held October 10th, & the San Antonio Super Regional will be held November 6th-7th. The Austin Regional is tentatively set for September 19th. The Central Texas Regional (San Marcos), South Texas Regional (McAllen), Dallas-Mid Cities Regional (Bedford), & Waco Regional are all returning but with dates TBD.

[CharterBusLover]

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