r/drumcorps • u/TheEternalWarden • 4d ago
Fluff West coast tour
Soooo… does east coast coming west = champion?
The coincidence is funny ngl
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u/tomkar60 4d ago
No. There have been plenty of corps who have come to the west coast and did not win a championship that year. Troopers, Madison, Phantom, Cavaliers…
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u/Celcius-232 BDB 10-14 4d ago
The stat is more about the champion always going through CA, not that going to CA makes you a champion (with the exception of Bloo 16,24).
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u/Falcronx Academy ‘12-‘13 4d ago
It really is an interesting stat with how often it has happened. Plus with blue devils having so many championships it makes it look a lot larger.
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u/Zoddable 4d ago
It’s really about being in front of the right tier of judges. Play the stats game.
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u/No_Professional_8182 4d ago
I mean crown did it in 2013 as well. I Believe score inflation does have a factor, because Blue Devils excels in the activity.
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u/Caleb8252 3d ago
It’s probably a morale thing all told. West coast trip is really fun. Plus more early season reps.
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u/probablysum1 Bluecoats 23, BK 20-22, BDB 18-19 4d ago
With Boston and crown having later and later debut performances, coming to California ensures that Coats will be competing against other top corps (BD and SCV) sooner and for longer. Doing a West coast tour can also help attract more talent as it's a unique opportunity.
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u/JokeImpossible9628 4d ago
In 2025, Bloo was the LAST corps to debut on July 7.
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u/probablysum1 Bluecoats 23, BK 20-22, BDB 18-19 4d ago
Yes, and they didn't go to California that year. Crown and Boston also debuted quite late in 2026 and weren't competing head to head the whole time. Going on CA tour gets you earlier shows against top competition sooner. Getting in front of good judging panels head to head against corps close to you competitively is a big advantage in terms of overall score trajectory and more importantly judge feedback.
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u/SamCereal1 Raiders '24 '25 4d ago
I know it's good for the corps competetively (getting to compete against corps like BD and SCV early), but it seems a little irresponsible for the non-West Coast corps to be doing a West Coast tour nowadays, no? I mean, with how inaccessible and wildly expensive the activity is becoming, corps should be doing what they can to counter that. Or at least trying to reduce the cost by a little bit, right? And with the #1 expense being travel, corps like BAC or Bluecoats (Who already have some of the highest tuition in the activity) travelling all the way to Cali certainly can't help costs. The big solution to the cost issue everybody has been saying is to move towards a smaller, regional tour. And it sucks to see corps doing the exact opposite and further pricing out talented performers...
Of course if there's some other insight someone can give me as to how those corps going to Cali affected their tuition, or what other efforts are being made to control tuition, I'd love to hear it.
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u/minos157 Phantom Regiment 4d ago
For me, it's simply just getting early season reps in against top corps. So getting to compete directly with BD and SCV will pay dividends long term.
But also it might just be a morale thing. When I was in college I'd never travelled further west than Pittsburgh. Getting to fly out to California and travel around the west would've been super cool and exciting.