[DUSTnTHAwind]

Tim, on 31 July 2010 - 03:54 AM, said:

According to this page on KMEA's website, the semifinals locations will be as follows:

A: Butler High School (I'm assuming they mean Butler Traditional)
AA: Christian Academy of Louisville
AAA: Meade County High School
AAAA: South Oldham High School
AAAAA: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

sweet, I'm sure everyone is ecstatic about Meade Co. lol. I'll be fine... imma be at Papa John's all day haha.

[formerbulldog]

Ideally, I think some people with KMEA need to swallow their pride, and Louisville needs to swallow their pride and work as a team.

Class A - Louisville Butler (4,000)
Class AA - Louisville PRP (4,500)
Class AAA - Louisville Eastern (6,500)
Class AAAA - Louisville Male (8,000)
Class AAAAA - Papa Johns Stadium (42,500)

All these facilities are in Louisville. The seating capacities are more than that of the outlying areas. These places have competitions which means they should be able to host a KMEA State Semi Final with no problem. I am sure however it is much more difficult than how I am stating it, otherwise it would already be done this way. It shouldn't matter whether or not the schools participate in Mid States, KMEA or what not. The fact they have hosting experience is a big plus. I just think it sounds logical to work together, to put on the best semi finals possible, then follow that with a finals at a premeire facility.

[Jason Shelby]

I doubt very, very much whether any facility is 'turned down' because they choose not to participate in KMEA. I think it far more likely that those facilities simply have no desire whatsoever to host a Semifinals competition.

We don't go where we choose. We go to the places that say, "yes."

[Bandpooba]

Actually, KMEA offers incentives to host regionals and semifinals. the host school get paid $3500.00 to host plus concessions.
If kmea is going to give the host school money then they should be school that participate in SMBC. the schools that should looked to
is the Shelby County High Schools. that is much closer to Louisville then Meade. But, let's all be thankful for Meade agreeing to
host.

[look what i can do!]

Bandpooba, on 31 July 2010 - 03:11 PM, said:

Actually, KMEA offers incentives to host regionals and semifinals. the host school get paid $3500.00 to host plus concessions.
If kmea is going to give the host school money then they should be school that participate in SMBC. the schools that should looked to
is the Shelby County High Schools. that is much closer to Louisville then Meade. But, let's all be thankful for Meade agreeing to
host.

I agree! That's what I was about to suggest. Shelbyville, from what I can remember visiting relatives there, isn't a very far, or (for the sake of bus drivers) complicated, drive out from Louisville. But whatever. Meade's fine for now. I mean I'm not driving out there, but it's big enough and they've been great hosts.

[Jason Shelby]

Bandpooba, on 31 July 2010 - 02:11 PM, said:

Actually, KMEA offers incentives to host regionals and semifinals. the host school get paid $3500.00 to host plus concessions.
If kmea is going to give the host school money then they should be school that participate in SMBC. the schools that should looked to
is the Shelby County High Schools. that is much closer to Louisville then Meade. But, let's all be thankful for Meade agreeing to
host.

I get what you're saying, but let's put $3500 into the perspective of a school's budget. I'm not sure that such an amount would justify the work and expense, particularly for schools that are participating. In fact, while I would like to see money budgeted for competitive marching go to schools that have competitive marching bands, it sort of makes sense for non-competitors to host because they're not busy that day.

Agreed that Shelby County would be a good avenue to pursue, though.

[☣Hate of the World]

hitchhikertogalaxy@WJBand, on 22 July 2010 - 07:36 PM, said:

I personally love South Oldam. They have a great school, a great field, and just an all around great compition area. 4A should keep it at south oldam for years.

Meade is way too far, agreements there. But they don't have many more schools near papa johns that are big enough to host a comp. It's tough finding a school that wants to take on the challenge of semis. Meade should be thanked for all the work they've done for the semi's, even though they are far away.

I agree, mead county was way too far. I was in marching band the year 4A was at Mead and the ride there and back was brutal. But i disagree with South Oldham being a good place. 1. There isn't enough seating. There were several people standing in and around the stands. Yes, it is A LOT bigger than Mead, but it's still pretty small. And 2. I personally don't think that a class state competition should be held at a school in which it's band is in that class, if that makes any sense. Kinda hard to explain that. Lol. But, i think you'll get what i mean. Lol.

[DUSTnTHAwind]

FLYONTHEWALL, on 31 July 2010 - 06:58 PM, said:

I agree, mead county was way too far. I was in marching band the year 4A was at Mead and the ride there and back was brutal. But i disagree with South Oldham being a good place. 1. There isn't enough seating. There were several people standing in and around the stands. Yes, it is A LOT bigger than Mead, but it's still pretty small. And 2. I personally don't think that a class state competition should be held at a school in which it's band is in that class, if that makes any sense. Kinda hard to explain that. Lol. But, i think you'll get what i mean. Lol.

Honestly, it makes it easier on the hosting school if they are hosting the class that their school is in. It would be slightly hard to host it and try to be somewhere else. Then your forces will be split in two, making it harder on the band to stay focused. It makes perfect sense to have it this way.

Although I see what your saying, they do have home field advantage, however... it doesn't seem to help too much honestly.

[Bandpooba]

Jason Shelby, on 31 July 2010 - 07:31 PM, said:

I get what you're saying, but let's put $3500 into the perspective of a school's budget. I'm not sure that such an amount would justify the work and expense, particularly for schools that are participating. In fact, while I would like to see money budgeted for competitive marching go to schools that have competitive marching bands, it sort of makes sense for non-competitors to host because they're not busy that day.

Agreed that Shelby County would be a good avenue to pursue, though.

Understand, but for schools that get zero funding, 3500 can by alot of music or even a marching show and a drill writer. with an organized concession, it could easy be and $10,000 with the kmea's fee and concessions. Also, since most of the louisville schools really aren't competitive anyway in there respective class, spending 225.00 to registar your band and getting a getting a 3275.00 plus concessions return is actually worth it for them.

[Tim]

formerbulldog, on 31 July 2010 - 06:00 AM, said:

Ideally, I think some people with KMEA need to swallow their pride, and Louisville needs to swallow their pride and work as a team.

Class A - Louisville Butler (4,000)
Class AA - Louisville PRP (4,500)
Class AAA - Louisville Eastern (6,500)
Class AAAA - Louisville Male (8,000)
Class AAAAA - Papa Johns Stadium (42,500)

All these facilities are in Louisville. The seating capacities are more than that of the outlying areas. These places have competitions which means they should be able to host a KMEA State Semi Final with no problem. I am sure however it is much more difficult than how I am stating it, otherwise it would already be done this way. It shouldn't matter whether or not the schools participate in Mid States, KMEA or what not. The fact they have hosting experience is a big plus. I just think it sounds logical to work together, to put on the best semi finals possible, then follow that with a finals at a premeire facility.

There have been complaints about the surrounding neighborhoods around PRP, so I don't know if that one is going to work out, even if they were interested in hosting semifinals. CAL would be a very acceptable venue, and then there's always South Oldham (which is less than 40 minutes away from Louisville). I agree with you, however, regarding non-competitive schools hosting.

Bandpooba, on 31 July 2010 - 03:11 PM, said:

If kmea is going to give the host school money then they should be school that participate in SMBC. the schools that should looked to
is the Shelby County High Schools. that is much closer to Louisville then Meade. But, let's all be thankful for Meade agreeing to
host.

Shelby County's field is always a problem in the later parts of the season, especially after a good rain. Remember all the complaints about Caldwell County being a swamp? Yeah, Shelby is no better. Also, it's closer than Meade, but only by 4 miles and maybe 10-15 minutes, which isn't really a lot, whereas Meade's field is much better than Shelby's (from what I hear) and the venue is at least as good. So, while Shelby is an option (and I mean no disrespect to their school or stadium here), I think other options should be explored first.

DUSTnTHAwind, on 01 August 2010 - 04:38 AM, said:

Honestly, it makes it easier on the hosting school if they are hosting the class that their school is in. It would be slightly hard to host it and try to be somewhere else. Then your forces will be split in two, making it harder on the band to stay focused. It makes perfect sense to have it this way.

Although I see what your saying, they do have home field advantage, however... it doesn't seem to help too much honestly.

Dustin, you were part of a host band at a competition at least once in high school, right? So you know how much work is involved, and I think that use of energy would take more out of a competitive band than home field advantage would give it. I agree that it's unfair, but I think it puts them at a disadvantage, regardless of whether they're hosting their class or a different one.

[formerbulldog]

Part of my thinking was from just reading the complaints that people didn't think it was fair that South Oldham was performing on their own field. If I remember right, that was part of it. The other parts were the distances of the outlying schools and people getting to Papa Johns in time for the start of state finals. Also, my stance on the locations was the seating, parking and such (which I have read numerous complaints about on here before). So I am just trying to be reactive to the problems, instead of a chronic complainer .

I can say in Indiana ISSMA pulled Carmel off the regional site, when Carmel opted out of ISSMA. Big mistake because Carmel has a great stadium.
Also, the way ISSMA State Finals were handled last year at Lucas Oil, what a mess it was. I am not sure who set up the configuration of people getting out and people getting in, but good heavens it was U-G-L-Y.

So from what I have read that has been posted just recently, everyone is 100% happy with where everything is going to be? Good!!! Let the season begin!!!

[randommusicgeek]

Every year someone mentions (or complains) about a lot of the semi-final locations not being in Louisville. I would think, though I'm not positive, that PARKING would be an issue at the smaller schools in Jefferson County. I've been to competitions at Male and PRP before where spectator parking was in the strangest of places. Some schools may not want to host because they don't want cars on their lawns.

I am surprised however that the old Cardinal Stadium isn't put to use. Talk about a nice place to host 4A.

[Jason Shelby]

randommusicgeek, on 01 August 2010 - 01:24 PM, said:

I am surprised however that the old Cardinal Stadium isn't put to use. Talk about a nice place to host 4A.

The single worst surface to march on I have ever encountered, anywhere. Granted, this was several years ago when they hosted a BOA Regional there, but I doubt much money has been put into the field since that time.

[Max Power]

Jason Shelby, on 01 August 2010 - 02:17 PM, said:

The single worst surface to march on I have ever encountered, anywhere. Granted, this was several years ago when they hosted a BOA Regional there, but I doubt much money has been put into the field since that time.

In College I marched there for a Racer Band exhibition at a BOA regional. The best part was having a 2 hour break during the show so the Softball team or something could practice, and getting to march up, down, and around the pitchers mound.....

[randommusicgeek]

Jason Shelby, on 01 August 2010 - 03:17 PM, said:

The single worst surface to march on I have ever encountered, anywhere. Granted, this was several years ago when they hosted a BOA Regional there, but I doubt much money has been put into the field since that time.

I thought it was just old school turf? I marched there for a BOA regional back in high school and I seem to remember turf.

I just mentioned it because it really isn't used all that much anymore, except for a few state fair events. There's talks every year about tearing it down and replacing it with an ampitheater, but with the economy, I don't think its going anywhere for awhile. Plus, it is just down the road for people complaining about driving from Meade and South Oldham.

[Ron Burgundy]

randommusicgeek, on 01 August 2010 - 05:02 PM, said:

I thought it was just old school turf? I marched there for a BOA regional back in high school and I seem to remember turf.

I just mentioned it because it really isn't used all that much anymore, except for a few state fair events. There's talks every year about tearing it down and replacing it with an ampitheater, but with the economy, I don't think its going anywhere for awhile. Plus, it is just down the road for people complaining about driving from Meade and South Oldham.

That probably is not an option. From what I've heard, that building is severely limited in the type and size of crowd that is allowed to be in the facility. It was really designed to be a baseball stadium, and thus the stands are far from the field and the pressbox is far and at a bit of an angle from the sideline. I don't know the condition of the concession stands or if they are even operable now because the building only hosts a handful of events every year. Also, I have no idea if there would be a fee to use the stadium or what it would be. With all that, I don't think you want to be holding a state semifinal event where you have all those issues.

[Tim]

formerbulldog, on 01 August 2010 - 01:35 PM, said:

Part of my thinking was from just reading the complaints that people didn't think it was fair that South Oldham was performing on their own field. If I remember right, that was part of it. The other parts were the distances of the outlying schools and people getting to Papa Johns in time for the start of state finals. Also, my stance on the locations was the seating, parking and such (which I have read numerous complaints about on here before). So I am just trying to be reactive to the problems, instead of a chronic complainer .

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the main reasons why South Oldham hosts AAAA are because Meade is too small for it and because AAAA comes later in the evening with the current finals format. If Male and Eastern are both convinced to host a semifinal, then all five semis can be held in Louisville. Even if just one is, then AAA can even be held at South Oldham and it would be better for distance and time issues than Meade. (Not that I dislike Meade; I agree that they've done a tremendous job hosting semis these last few years.)

randommusicgeek, on 01 August 2010 - 02:24 PM, said:

I am surprised however that the old Cardinal Stadium isn't put to use. Talk about a nice place to host 4A.

I heard that it was condemned. Maybe I was wrong?

randommusicgeek, on 01 August 2010 - 05:02 PM, said:

I thought it was just old school turf? I marched there for a BOA regional back in high school and I seem to remember turf.

Astro turf. And I agree with Jason that it's a very poor surface to march on, especially with the pitcher's mound. I played football on it when I suited up for the varsity games my freshman year, and even that was horrid.