All-Star Too Small A Venue

[ACEDAD]

Short post because I'm at work:

1. This isn't a new issue and USASF has to address or it will kill Worlds.
2. It's all well and good for everyone to just go flying off and send emails and signing pettitions, but if 300 people send emails and have 300 different ideas, how much good will that do?
3. This is a perfect opportunity for there to be a huge thread weighing ideas and getting constructive criticism as to the viability. Not that there will be a single FB option, but with the thousands involved in this board a lot of the unworkable ones will be eliminated.
4. Even if you think its an unworkable idea (as per 3) posting it here may just spark that idea that none of us have yet imagined that will solve the issue.

So post away, people! Despite what others are saying, posting here DOES have a great benefit!!!

 

[flcheermom]

I read we're in year 8 of 25 with the Disney contract, anyone know if this is true?

can't confirm - but my daughter mentioned 25 years to me also..so I am not sure where she heard that from.

 

[mstealtoyou]

We were actually a bit bummed that most of our kids (yes, we were one one the evil at larges that shouldn't have been allowed to cross the fla state line) actually didn't watch. They did the Disney thing if they stayed at all. Some of them drove home on Saturday. A few watched and a few of their parents but on the whole they didn't. I actually wish they would have. What better way to truly understand what it takes to be a Sunday team, other than watching Sunday teams. That kind of education can only make you better.

Couldn't agree more!!

 

[Level5Mom]

I really think they felt that by knocking out teams in prelims that people wouldn't come back to watch. But they did come back and watch. I also think that they felt like having large senior first that people would leave after the division. But they didn't leave. I think they tried to take steps to prevent the lock down, they just under-anticipated the amount of fans that actually like to watch cheer. The fans are a good thing: they bring in income to the USASF. We all know they need money if we want to get anything done in this industry!! I do appreciate that they tried to let us all see all divisions, but clearly the fans are larger in numbers than anyone would have anticipated. That is a GREAT thing!

I do not want to fight about which gym got the lucky (political) front and center section that was reserved for the parents. I do not want to ask my mother or my husband or my son to stay home because I do not have a reserved ticket for them. I am not very fond of the idea of reserving seats at all. JMO.

I don't know what the solution is, but FOR NOW I think the easiest way to help is to purposely schedule the top divisions so they perform at the same time in each arena. Adding Friday didn't seem to help much, so I'm not sure another day of cheer would make a difference either. Perhaps it would help to move the judges closer and lower so the back seats could actually be utilized?

 

[nccheerdad]

I said this last year, and some didn't like, but others did. Why not set up a rock concert-like stage outside at WWoS to accommodate the most-popular divisions, while keeping some of the less-popular divisions inside? Build in enough flexibility in the schedule to be able to work around possible rain delays. Maybe even have those divisions' finals on Saturday night, just in case it has to be postponed until the Sunday. They could bring in portable seating (not talking middle-school gym here, but the kind you see at F-1 and Indy races) and have thousands on ground-level in front of the stage. They could utilize Disney's imagineers and pyro-techs to make it a spectacle. Who needs Fantasmic when you can have CEA, Cali, and CA?? Okay, rip away.

 

[Admin]

I said this last year, and some didn't like, but others did. Why not set up a rock concert-like stage outside at WWoS to accommodate the most-popular divisions, while keeping some of the less-popular divisions inside? Build in enough flexibility in the schedule to be able to work around possible rain delays. Maybe even have those divisions' finals on Saturday night, just in case it has to be postponed until the Sunday. They could bring in portable seating (not talking middle-school gym here, but the kind you see at F-1 and Indy races) and have thousands on ground-level in front of the stage. They could utilize Disney's imagineers and pyro-techs to make it a spectacle. Who needs Fantasmic when you can have CEA, Cali, and CA?? Okay, rip away.

I am just going to take a shot at this in saying that competing outside in florida for most of the population in the hot humid weather is not ideal.

 

[nccheerdad]

I am just going to take a shot at this in saying that competing outside in florida for most of the population in the hot humid weather is not ideal.

That's fine. There is a lot that is not ideal about the current set-up either. Do it no earlier than 7:30pm when the sun starts to set. Lots of kids practice in hot, humid conditions anyway, for a lot longer than 2.5 minutes. I know a lot of soccer players who run around a field for 90 minutes in these exact same conditions. College Nationals at Daytona Beach doesn't seem to have that issue.

Again, this is just for the most popular divisions' finals, so you only need about a 3-3.5 hour window.

 

[ntlgnt1]

I believe the problem this year with overcrowding was not really more people attending...it was the prelims being on Friday...with so many teams getting knocked out early on, the kids came to watch on Saturday and Sunday leaving little room for parents.

There actually was about 15 more teams competing this year. Remember the medium AG and Co-ed was added and yes I did a comparison. So if you look at the least amount of CPs on a team times teams addional teams competing 20*15 = 300 more CPs competing along w/thier parents attending. In addition, with the reduction of the amount of teams competing on Sunday pushed down to only 10 as opposed to half the division last year, you had less atheletes competing and more watching.

So just in SS alone, there was the possibility that 12 teams came back Sunday to watch the competition as opposed to having those same 12 teams not be in the arena b/c they needed to be focused w/thier team to compete and not take up seats.

 

[nccheerdad]

There actually was about 15 more teams competing this year. Remember the medium AG and Co-ed was added and yes I did a comparison. So if you look at the least amount of CPs on a team times teams addional teams competing 20*15 = 300 more CPs competing along w/thier parents attending. In addition, with the reduction of the amount of teams competing on Sunday pushed down to only 10 as opposed to half the division last year, you had less atheletes competing and more watching.

So just in SS alone, there was the possibility that 12 teams came back Sunday to watch the competition as opposed to having those same 12 teams not be in the arena b/c they needed to be focused w/thier team to compete and not take up seats.

Yep, and just think how much money USASF is leaving on the table by having those non-finals athletes not needing a ticket to get in on Sunday.

 

[taytay]

I was one of the lucky ones who got locked out of the Milk House and it was horrible!!! 2012 will go down as the worst worlds ever! I say we move it to Dallas Cowboys Stadium or Disneyland and use Anaheim Convention Center, Angels Stadium and or Honda Center, OR Nokia Theater and Staples Center in LA, or NEW YORK!!! There's so many venues in New York for big shows

 

[ntlgnt1]

Yep, and just think how much money USASF is leaving on the table by having those non-finals athletes not needing a ticket to get in on Sunday.

That would be so tacky to charge those atheletes again! Especially if they were at large teams that paid to be there anyway.

 

[tucknduck]

Since the fire marshal was involed, that means crowd control was handled terribly and anyone who paid sure got kinda jobbed and there was little flexibility if you had a kid on a team you were trying to see.. Also, Jostens was bad because it lacked the feel of a worlds event and felt like a local tournament. The parent seating area was a joke..Kneeling on the floor and no VIP seats. That was pathetic. When they did Senior Medium, there were no other teams alternating so you had a long wait between teams. No way should they have been in Jostens. They should've been over at the milkhouse. This is worlds and all the primary 18U L5 teams should have been in the milkhouse. Or have it at a venue where all teams can perform in the same environment the whole times at a worlds event.

 

[Abi24]

I have to say that i've never been to Worlds, but it is something i want to do.

5000 capacity seems like a very small venue for such a big event. It's probably more feasible to simply cut the number of teams competing, ergo less cheer parents/friends etc. BUT, that is not viable for the growth of the competition into a genuine showcase event outside of the USA (where i'm sure it is already seen as such even with its flaws)

Is it possible that it could be held somewhere like the Miami Dolphins/Dallas Cowboys/A.N-Other NFL team's stadium in the future? I'm sure maybe it could be. But I don't think USASF would want to offend disney? Those stadiums, even when adapted to allow for comp floors, warm up areas etc, would have a HUGE capacity compared to the Milkhouse. I almost think it's too big of a jump.

My suggestion would be doing what Jamfest have done here in the UK and picking an arena - possibly a 20,000 seater? I'm not sure of the name of any venue like that in the Florida State, but their answer to MSG in terms of layout and capacity. I'd also like to see a system where entrance is staggered for big divisions like large senior - family first, then spectators. It would take some organising but i have no doubt it could be done. Have a wristband system where you get a certain colour if you buy a pass from a gym its a different colour to a general specator ticket. I'm not suggesting kicking out spectators but prioritising entry for those who have family competing so they get to see their loved ones compete - thats not unreasonable in my opinion.

 

[mstealtoyou]

As upset as I have been at JamBrand's since we figured out that a trip to Europe for the winner's didn't really mean a TRIP to Europe for the winners...........they do know how to throw an event. They were on their game at the Major's competition as far as layout....ticket sales.....when it became apparent that they needed more seats they added them and sold more tickets. But not selling more tickets than they had seats for.

They also had 1 way into the venue. That was it. Cheerleaders, parents and fans all had to go in the same way and exit the same way. I don't think I saw 1 person sneaking in.

JamBrands is on your board USASF. Ask them how to do a major event!

 

[caobsession]

I'd suggest that they start doing what they did with the Junior teams when they were able to compete with the outside facility. Yes, it's inconvenient if it's raining/ the weather is bad, but it's also inconvenient not being able to even move around because spacing was so limited. This way, there would be 3 different competition floors happening simultaneously, and hopefully this will cause the crowd to scatter more than just congregate all in the milk house.