Why did scores inflate in 2017?

[An Inspirational Pinecone]

So I'd say it's pretty well known that scores took a MASSIVE leap in 2017, which at the time was considered the most competitive San Antonio competition ever, and that level of competition has been repeated over and over the last 5 years. I wanted to know why the scores inflated outside of it being more competitive? Because it's all the same bands outside of Avon in 2017, and it's not like the bands that scored an 82 to 86 in 2016 suddenly jumped 8 points in 2017. Did the judges buy into the hype that year and the current scores are the repercussions of that? Really curious what y'all think the reason is.

Top Halves:
2022 - 95.29
2021 - 94.16
2019 - 95.37
2018 - 95.44
2017 - 95.15
Avg - 95.08

2016 - 90.65
2015 - 91.41
2014 - 91.2
2013 - 90.79
2012 - 90.51
Avg - 90.91

Bottom Halves:
2022 - 90.36
2021 - 89.69
2019 - 89.62
2018 - 90.16
2017 - 90.55
Avg - 90.08

2016 - 85.3
2015 - 86.47
2014 - 85.94
2013 - 87.15
2012 - 85.53
Avg - 86.08

 

[natertater21000]

I really do honestly believe that bands got that much better. Virtually everyone stepped their game up. Speaking only for texas, 2013 put blood in the water. You could no longer be certain that Marcus and Bell would be 1-3 and it opened a power vacuum in the Texas band world that everyone was chomping at the bit to fill. Over the next three years (2014-2016) Many bands rose out of competitive obscurity trying their hardest to take the biggest piece of the competitive pie as possible. A rising tide raises all ships and the extreme level of competitiveness caused a rise in performance quality that had yet to be seen. I watched all or portions of SA finals in person from 2011-2021 and the performance quality in 2017 onward was truly on another level. 

Edit: I remember watching 2017 finals and thinking Leander wasn't performing at a considerably lower level than 2016, especially musically, and the scores would back that up. A 90.85 in 2016 and an 89.03 in 2017 isn't an enormous difference, and you could attribute most of that to a not so fantastic design from Leander in 2017 by comparison. So why the drop from 3rd to 14th?? Everyone else just got THAT much better. 

[TWHSParent]

Or maybe everyone knew Avon was attending in 2017 and decided to go all out to beat them, then just kept that competitive level as the standard going forward.

[takigan]

2016-2018 also marked a direction change for BOA that involved expanding the number of Texas regionals...but more notably expanding the roster for San Antonio considerably from 60 bands to over 80.  Electronics integration has also gone through significant innovations, while show design cohesion between several of the top designers has become far more streamlined resulting in some of the most stellar show designs we've ever seen in the activity.  

I thought for many years that the greatest shows to ever grace a marching field were all in previous decades.  I no longer believe that.

[Vidal28]

You can go to pretty much any local contest here not named BOA and have a fun time listening to every band in attendance, despite the few SA finalist level bands that are sprinkled into local contests(for some contests they aren’t just sprinkled in, TMC has a top half filled with SA finalists) every band is putting out to their utmost potential, a growing number of bands that are ascending leading to an incredibly competitive atmosphere where groups simply cannot be complacent, otherwise they’ll get leapfrogged by a new school that opened up in the last 5 years, many examples of that, that we can see in the state which is crazy.   The state has never been more competitive than it has been as a result of what the last 5 years have brought!

[lhbenlee]

There were changes to the rules and judging sheets that year as well. Perhaps those changes suited the strengths of Texas bands better. It’s probably a combination of things rather than just one of the things mentioned in this thread.

https://www.hornrank.com/2017/05/boa-releases-updated-rulebook.html?m=1

[lost]

I’ve been meaning to ask the same thing but never got around to doing so.

I’m in the minority when I say San Antonio scores are a little over-inflated in my opinion, especially finals.

I think 2021 we got a better scope of where bands really stood in comparison to others nationally.

I think bands are getting a lot better, but it’s a slower transition than an immediate jump in scores.

[lhbenlee]

12 hours ago, lost said:

I’ve been meaning to ask the same thing but never got around to doing so.

I’m in the minority when I say San Antonio scores are a little over-inflated in my opinion, especially finals.

I think 2021 we got a better scope of where bands really stood in comparison to others nationally.

I think bands are getting a lot better, but it’s a slower transition than an immediate jump in scores.

Maybe. Or perhaps when Avon attended in 2017, there was a realization that BOA SA scoring had been historically under-inflated. 

[lost]

9 hours ago, lhbenlee said:

Maybe. Or perhaps when Avon attended in 2017, there was a realization that BOA SA scoring had been historically under-inflated. 

I can’t say I agree with this. I think if there was an inflation in scores the catalyst was the strength of Texas bands, not Avons guest visit.

[natertater21000]

12 hours ago, lost said:

I can’t say I agree with this. I think if there was an inflation in scores the catalyst was the strength of Texas bands, not Avons guest visit.

The score inflation has way more to do with the increase in quality of the lower finalists and bubble bands IMO. If the 14th place band is now good enough for an 88/89 (which I believe is an accurate representation of their improvement) then the scores can only go up from there. This more or less forces the judges into a corner scoring wise. This is why I think Reagan broke the record in 2019. Bands like Vandy, Hebron, Vista, Leander, and CTJ were so good that year that for Reagan to be scored higher the judges had no choice but to put them over a 97. All scores are relative to the field.

Side note: This is why I think record scores in a reward based system are a novelty at best. The only truly objective record score exists in an old school tic system where it is literally the show with the fewest errors.

[lhbenlee]

14 hours ago, lost said:

I can’t say I agree with this. I think if there was an inflation in scores the catalyst was the strength of Texas bands, not Avons guest visit.

I don’t necessarily believe it but it was something fun to consider.
 

If the reason is purely the strength of Texas bands, then the amount of the jump seems high and I’d contend the scores were too low before for whatever reason. 

[natertater21000]

4 minutes ago, lhbenlee said:

I don’t necessarily believe it but it was something fun to consider.
 

If the reason is purely the strength of Texas bands, then the amount of the jump seems high and I’d contend the scores were too low before for whatever reason. 

I did think that 2016 in particular was oddly low.

[lhbenlee]

The field getting deeper and thus requiring higher scores makes sense.
 

I do wonder what impact having UIL SMB every year for all classes will have on the depth of the field for BOA SA. I know most will still attend most of the time but I have to think it likely impacts a few top programs each year.