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Every year, BOA San Antonio gets harder. This year, there were 62 bands with about 25-30 strong contenders for 14 spots. I think now is the time to add a semifinal to the competition. This would ensure that the right bands would be picked for finals as it is ridiculous to make the judges cut the competition down to 14 bands from 62 and not make mistakes.

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Every year, BOA San Antonio gets harder. This year, there were 62 bands with about 25-30 strong contenders for 14 spots. I think now is the time to add a semifinal to the competition. This would ensure that the right bands would be picked for finals as it is ridiculous to make the judges cut the competition down to 14 bands from 62 and not make mistakes.

Someone a little upset about something???

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Super Regionals limit their number of participants to 60. Music For All painstakingly chooses its event venues (including opening new ones, moving locations for current ones, and canceling ineffective ones) with anticipation to how many programs will sign up to get this as close to maximum as possible without going over the limit. If they anticipate going WAY over the limit, they often just open up another regional to split things up.

 

Having 62 bands at San Antonio this year along with what was also a sizeably large turnout at Arlington might cause BOA to consider adding a 4th Regional to Texas (as they have done in the past... with unfortunately little success) for next year. They would choose this course of action long before they ever made San Antonio a 3-part event (Prelims-Semis-Finals) like Grand Nationals instead of 2 (Prelims-Finals).

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Super Regionals limit their number of participants to 60. Music For All painstakingly chooses its event venues (including opening new ones, moving locations for current ones, and canceling ineffective ones) with anticipation to how many programs will sign up to get this as close to maximum as possible without going over the limit. If they anticipate going WAY over the limit, they often just open up another regional to split things up.

 

Having 62 bands at San Antonio this year along with what was also a sizeably large turnout at Arlington might cause BOA to consider adding a 4th Regional to Texas (as they have done in the past... with unfortunately little success) for next year. They would choose this course of action long before they ever made San Antonio a 3-part event (Prelims-Semis-Finals) like Grand Nationals instead of 2 (Prelims-Finals).

So then the question becomes 'Where would they hold it?'

 

Looking at finals recaps I see Round Rock had a .1 penalty for something which ACTUALLY made the difference between their 8th place (87.15) and Hebrons 7th (87.25). Round Rock had a higher GE score so they would've won that tie. Anyone know what the infraction was? Richland also had a .1 penalty but there wasn't any place movement because of it

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I think a Central Texas BOA would be great. There's a couple of good venues in Round Rock in particular. Plus, this would be a pretty equal trek for almost all of the heavy hitting programs - Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston would all be within relatively easy distance, as well as the Austin area obviously. After that, the trick is just putting it at a time where a BOA contest would actually be desired. I wouldn't mind seeing it usurp the place of the Westlake contest on its weekend, as a more competitive event. It would set up Area much better, IMO. Some bands that need a little extra push to keep going at that point could see a lot of improvement.

 

Of course, that's probably a great fundraiser for Westlake so they might not want to give it up - then again, some bands don't do the BOA thing, so Westlake could still thrive as a bit of a smaller contest. There's plenty of schools there that don't have the resources or whatnot to compete well in BOA or State level contests, and without the usual suspects, they would have more a chance to shine at Westlake. Looking at the past couple of years, it seems that Westlake is getting less competitive as is. First no Cedar Park, then no Bowie - a more intense competition in pretty much the same place, with more standardized scoring, would be a much more appealing proposition.

 

It could be a great way to see most of the big dogs from separate areas compete directly, but a little earlier in the season.

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So then the question becomes 'Where would they hold it?'

 

Looking at finals recaps I see Round Rock had a .1 penalty for something which ACTUALLY made the difference between their 8th place (87.15) and Hebrons 7th (87.25). Round Rock had a higher GE score so they would've won that tie. Anyone know what the infraction was? Richland also had a .1 penalty but there wasn't any place movement because of it

 

In prelims I know that there was a photographer in the way of one of Round Rock's soloists trying to get back into the show. The soloist ended up going out of bounds. Not sure if the same thing happened tonight.

Edited by tred
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I think a Central Texas BOA would be great. There's a couple of good venues in Round Rock in particular. Plus, this would be a pretty equal trek for almost all of the heavy hitting programs - Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston would all be within relatively easy distance, as well as the Austin area obviously. After that, the trick is just putting it at a time where a BOA contest would actually be desired. I wouldn't mind seeing it usurp the place of the Westlake contest on its weekend, as a more competitive event. It would set up Area much better, IMO. Some bands that need a little extra push to keep going at that point could see a lot of improvement.

 

Of course, that's probably a great fundraiser for Westlake so they might not want to give it up - then again, some bands don't do the BOA thing, so Westlake could still thrive as a bit of a smaller contest. There's plenty of schools there that don't have the resources or whatnot to compete well in BOA or State level contests, and without the usual suspects, they would have more a chance to shine at Westlake. Looking at the past couple of years, it seems that Westlake is getting less competitive as is. First no Cedar Park, then no Bowie - a more intense competition in pretty much the same place, with more standardized scoring, would be a much more appealing proposition.

 

It could be a great way to see most of the big dogs from separate areas compete directly, but a little earlier in the season.

 

Bowie was probably simply not there since they were going to grand nationals and were saving money. Notice they also didn't go to BOA SA... Bowie will likely be back next year.

 

EDIT: Plus, I wouldn't complain about competitiveness until your band places first at the competition.

Edited by Morcks
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Bowie was probably simply not there since they were going to grand nationals and were saving money. Notice they also didn't go to BOA SA... Bowie will likely be back next year.

 

EDIT: Plus, I wouldn't complain about competitiveness until your band places first at the competition.

 

First off, I'm not in a HS marching band. I used to be, I have since graduated. So there is no "my band".

 

Second, you don't have to be winning to realize that a BOA contest in the same timeslot would almost inevitably be more competitive. And great programs not participating also indicates less competition than before. Since when is wanting more competitive contests a bad thing? The competition pushes everyone to work harder, making the end product better.

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Bowie was probably simply not there since they were going to grand nationals and were saving money. Notice they also didn't go to BOA SA... Bowie will likely be back next year.

 

EDIT: Plus, I wouldn't complain about competitiveness until your band places first at the competition.

 

I don't think it's an insult to anyone to say that there are more competitive contests out there than Westlake. That's just a statement of fact, and you don't need to be an LD Bell alum to recognize it. It is a wonderful competition, and it's certainly not easy to win, but it does not historically draw as deep a crowd as some of the BOA regionals.

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I think a regional at The Palace in Round Rock would be awesome. Great stadium and centrally located between the other 3 regionals.

 

Hmm, I disagree. Round Rock HS hosts the Area D contest at this location often and the stadium barely fit that contest, which usually hosts under 35 bands. I'm assuming a regional in this location would attract most Area D bands, and many others from other Areas, and the venue simply isn't large enough.

 

Although, I do like the idea of hosting another regional contest in central Texas. There are a lot of great bands in the area, and many good ones that could use the little push to become great.

 

Bowie was probably simply not there since they were going to grand nationals and were saving money. Notice they also didn't go to BOA SA... Bowie will likely be back next year.

 

EDIT: Plus, I wouldn't complain about competitiveness until your band places first at the competition.

 

Bowie and Westlake are both in Austin, attending Westlake wouldn't cost much at all.

Edited by drummerjoe
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Hmm, I disagree. Round Rock HS hosts the Area D contest at this location often and the stadium barely fit that contest, which usually hosts under 35 bands. I'm assuming a regional in this location would attract most Area D bands, and many others from other Areas, and the venue simply isn't large enough.

 

Although, I do like the idea of hosting another regional contest in central Texas. There are a lot of great bands in the area, and many good ones that could use the little push to become great.

 

 

 

Bowie and Westlake are both in Austin, attending Westlake wouldn't cost much at all.

 

 

RRISD stadium seating capacity is 11,000. I believe the seating capacity in Conroe is smaller. I was told by a Bowie parent that Bowie didn't attend Westlake because they were saving money for GN.

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RRISD stadium seating capacity is 11,000. I believe the seating capacity in Conroe is smaller. I was told by a Bowie parent that Bowie didn't attend Westlake because they were saving money for GN.

 

Yea, but where are they gonna put all the buses and trucks? The venue can only host about half the amount of bands the super-regional hosted. I'm not sure if there is a cap on how many bands can compete in a regional contest, but I'm assuming a Regional contest is central Texas would attract a few more bands than the Area D contest did.

 

And I guess it costs more to attend the contest than I anticipated.

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RRISD stadium seating capacity is 11,000. I believe the seating capacity in Conroe is smaller. I was told by a Bowie parent that Bowie didn't attend Westlake because they were saving money for GN.

 

He is probably talking about parking and warm up space. The Kelly Reeve's Palace is my home stadium and it is a pain to get all of those bands there, nearly impossible. Furthermore, warm up would be awful, not even room for two warm ups; can't imagine in third warm up area. Lastly, the public parking is awful at home games.

 

Sadly, this is likely the best stadium around. Burger is large but so exposed and noisy; you can hear anything outside of the stadium, even lot noise AND traffic. There is plenty of parking but I can't think of a good place for warm up since it so exposed. Plus it is old and a little run down. The Leander ISD Bible Stadium is beautiful and enormous. Seems like there can be some good places for warm up that are a reasonable distance but the parking situationd is bad bad bad; it is a nightmare. The Conally Stadium has no parking and is tiny

Can anyone think of anymore suitable stadiums?

Edited by T.Stechnij
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There are plenty of great new stadiums in CenTex, but I agree that I'm not sure if any of them have the capacity to host the large volume of bands a central texas regional would attract. I could see this regional getting 45+ bands, and that's hard for any venue in any region to host (which is why we love the Alamodome so much!) I would like to be optimistic and assume that the Palace could somehow logistically work out fitting these bands in if the opportunity presented itself. Heck let's just find a way to put it in DKR (trust me, I know the many flaws in that...but think of how cool it could be!!)

 

But I am really intrigued by the CenTex regional idea, and would love to pretty much have a mini-super regional here.

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There are plenty of great new stadiums in CenTex, but I agree that I'm not sure if any of them have the capacity to host the large volume of bands a central texas regional would attract. I could see this regional getting 45+ bands, and that's hard for any venue in any region to host (which is why we love the Alamodome so much!) I would like to be optimistic and assume that the Palace could somehow logistically work out fitting these bands in if the opportunity presented itself. Heck let's just find a way to put it in DKR (trust me, I know the many flaws in that...but think of how cool it could be!!)

 

But I am really intrigued by the CenTex regional idea, and would love to pretty much have a mini-super regional here.

Sorry about my idiocy-- but what problems would arise?

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Gupton Stadium outside Vista Ridge HS is a bit better on the parking front than Bible Stadium is but is arguably worse when it comes to warm up spaces. During 4A Area last year you could hear other bands warming up.

 

If they were to use one, it would have to be between both of the big LISD stadiums and the Palace. However they would have to be extremely strict on the number of bands that could attend considering the logistics of all of the locations.

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Gupton Stadium outside Vista Ridge HS is a bit better on the parking front than Bible Stadium is but is arguably worse when it comes to warm up spaces. During 4A Area last year you could hear other bands warming up.

 

If they were to use one, it would have to be between both of the big LISD stadiums and the Palace. However they would have to be extremely strict on the number of bands that could attend considering the logistics of all of the locations.

 

I don't think it could logistically work at Gupton in any shape unless like no more than 25 bands showed up. It is certainly better than Connally... How could I have forgotten that?

Edited by T.Stechnij
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Why not University of Texas Austin??? Just a thought, and don't throw football as an excuse they work around it..

 

Parking. That's the reason we don't have Texas State Marching Contest there anymore. There also isn't a really great place to hold warm-ups or unload buses. Basically the whole thing would be a logistical nightmare.

Edited by Donezo
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