All-Star Too Small A Venue

[CoachD]

If we can coordinate it during Derby time...WINNING!

Worlds is the weekend before Derby so coming back home this week with all the events going on and Oaks & Derby this weekend has been a packed 2 weeks! It would be so much fun to have them back to back in the same city - and pretty nice on the bank account for me! Everyone can come to Louisville and enjoy the most exciting 2 weekends in sports (well to me)!

 

[ufomom]

By moving divisions into Hollywood and Epcot, you lost me as a spectator by adding another couple of $200 to the cost of admission. Heck have Barnum & Bailey pitch a circus tent on the baseball field.

 

[12stepCheermom]

Here's a crazy idea....
Worlds is held each year where the highest scoring team from the previous year resides. So Cali wins for their division and posts the "grand champ" score...Worlds is held in Anaheim. If GymTyme has the highest score...we all go to Louisville....

Awesome idea but it probably wouldn't leave a lot of time secure and plan a venue for something this size. Plus....when a team from....say...Green Bay, or Anchorage or Greenville, SC wins you're going to have a problem finding much in the state to accommodate it, let alone the town they're from. But very cool idea!

 

[BlueCat]

If anyone else suggests / insinuates that more people arriving early somehow helps the problem in any way shape or form, I may have to tape down my caps lock key. This includes the idea that not arriving early means people didn't "deserve" to get good seats. Again - 15,000 people do not fit into 3,000 seats. It doesn't matter when they show up.

As perverse and counter-productive as it sounds, the only band-aid to the overcrowding at this point is to make the event much less attractive to the fans. Moving popular divisions away from each other, moving awards to different locations, putting popular divisions at inopportune times, and severely raising the price of admission could all decrease the problem a bit. However, treating the athletes and spectators this way goes against the stated mission of the USASF. Those fans are what can save this sport and/or make it much more mainstream. The governing body of the sport should be doing what it can to savor, nurture, and increase the number of fans & spectators - not trying to find ways to turn them away.

There are people in the industry who have predicted this very thing would happen. Many have been practically screaming for a venue change for years. By 2007, the venue was already to small. The only real solution is to move the event.

Assuming you can't move the event, here are other minor solutions that don't adversely affect the athletes or families.

1. Get rid of the VIP area. The people that are actually "very important" are the parents and athletes, not the event producers, choreographers, or board members. Use that space to improve the viewing for family members (see #3)

2. Live, real-time scoring with a leader board outside. Make use of the technology available and have huge screens that are constantly putting up information like what was on the google doc, but make it a fun and entertaining atmosphere. Have a MASSIVE screen showing the live feed from ALL arenas. Have live feeds from the warmup room and behind the backdrop. Think block party with high-tech scoreboards. Make it fun enough for the casual fans to prefer to be there than at the actual event. Make it informative and high-tech enough to make many hard-core fans prefer it as well.

3. Get a much better control on who is in the "fan" group that gets to sit down in front or stand in the fan zone. I only recognized about 1/2 of the people that jumped into our "parents & family" group that go to sit down in front of the stage. This should be reserved for ACTUAL family members. In our experience, there were far too many non-family, non-CA members that rushed in and kept the actual parents from being able to see. I'm sure other gyms experienced the same thing. We greatly appreciate our fans, but I'm sorry - the parents, brothers, sisters, and other athletes from our gym should get priority over others when our own teams are going.

Also, if parents/athletes are GUARANTEED to get the best view of the their gyms' teams by being in the priority group, then many will be happy just being in this group and not planting themselves in a seat all day long.

More to come as I think of them. Feel free to add your own.

 

[SparkleSpankies]

Maybe if they put one of those big blow up sports domes over the playing field they can have 3 venues all within a few hundred feet of one another....hmmmm

Like they did for NHSCC and All-Star?

And somehow spread out divisions a little better! At the end of the day a few divisions are going to draw the largest crowds, so somehow no matter where it is, those divisions need to be spread out and logically organized. I don't have a suggestion, but this post seems to be talking in circles.

 

[Jessica]

I dont hate the idea of having a tent venue at the WWOS.... it isnt the best option in the world but it is better than having the even stopped AGAIN for over crowding....
Split up Lrg sr and Lrg Coed (same time different arenas)
same for sm coed and IOC5 maybe (those seem like the most popular divisions)

again it isnt the BEST idea.... but its better than nothing
for the record I dont like the idea of going to indiana jones simply because then you have to pay park admission

 

[GreatWhite92]

I have two points I would like to make and am quite long-winded, so sorry in advance if this gets a bit long.

We won't be moving out of Disney/WWOS for the next few years. We all know this is true. For now, I would propose having one venue hold all of the all-girl teams, and one for coed. Still have at-larges compete Friday in Jostens so we don't mess with ICU, but Sat and Sun I suggest having separate venues. Stack them so the teams of the same size are competing at the same time. Start with small AG and coed, IO5/IOC5, MAG/MC, IO6/IOC6, and finish the day with large AG and coed. This separates the more popular divisions with international teams to hopefully alleviate some crowding. People will have to choose who to see and plan ahead much like at Cheersport. I understand this will be difficult for the coaches (and possibly parents) of a few elite gyms with multiple worlds teams, but those coaches are often leaders in the industry and hopefully willing to sacrifice a bit for the good of others.

I would just make sure we switch venues each year. All girl gets milkhouse one year and the next year coed gets the milkhouse.

 

[5-6-7-8]

2. Live, real-time scoring with a leader board outside. Make use of the technology available and have huge screens that are constantly putting up information like what was on the google doc, but make it a fun and entertaining atmosphere. Have a MASSIVE screen showing the live feed from ALL arenas. Have live feeds from the warmup room and behind the backdrop. Think block party with high-tech scoreboards. Make it fun enough for the casual fans to prefer to be there than at the actual event. Make it informative and high-tech enough to make many hard-core fans prefer it as well.

3. Get a much better control on who is in the "fan" group that gets to sit down in front or stand in the fan zone. I only recognized about 1/2 of the people that jumped into our "parents & family" group that go to sit down in front of the stage. This should be reserved for ACTUAL family members. In our experience, there were far too many non-family, non-CA members that rushed in and kept the actual parents from being able to see. I'm sure other gyms experienced the same thing. We greatly appreciate our fans, but I'm sorry - the parents, brothers, sisters, and other athletes from our gym should get priority over others when our own teams are going.

Also, if parents/athletes are GUARANTEED to get the best view of the their gyms' teams by being in the priority group, then many will be happy just being in this group and not planting themselves in a seat all day long.

More to come as I think of them. Feel free to add your own.

RE: #3 I like this idea. It would be easy to send gyms certain colored wristbands (by division) for the parents who preregister for such access. Then a staging area could be used (?? never been so no clue to the actual layout of the arena) to verify wristbands a team or two before a performance. Then usher said group into the "fan" area and back out again. I agree that if I knew I was guaranteed a spot to see my child, I may not necessarily want to sit in the place all day long.

I'll add to it selling tickets by division and clearing out the arena between divisions (or time blocks or whatever.) Then limit sales to actual seating capacity by time block.

RE #2: And for all of the other fans who want to enjoy the "energy" of Worlds, but don't necessarily care if they watch other divisions on a screen, I love this idea! A large scale viewing party would be awesome! Could go as far as to add some "hosts" to the events who can give commentary, etc. (Now, that may be going overboard, but better to think "over" rather than "under.")

 

[BowsnBling]

Here's a crazy idea....
Worlds is held each year where the highest scoring team from the previous year resides. So Cali wins for their division and posts the "grand champ" score...Worlds is held in Anaheim. If GymTyme has the highest score...we all go to Louisville....

I don't feel like that could happen because most event venues would not sign a contract of that magnitude for one year. That is just my two cents though. =)

 

[L5cheermom]

I like the idea of a viewing party outside of the live venue. It would either have to be an executive type environment with refreshments, etc. with tickets at a premium price or a discount alternative. I don't think people will be happy to pay the same price and not get the live experience without some kind of concession. However, I struggle to see how there will be a solution in the current venue that everyone will be happy with. I just hope they come up with an adequate solution that will not leave me feeling like I need to camp out to guarantee I will be able to see my son's LC team perform live.

 

[L5cheermom]

Oh, and one more thought. If there were some alternate activities going on at the venue there might be more movement of the crowd. I'm sure this is Disney dictated, but what about a child's play area, a meet and greet area where the athletes who are not performing could socialize in a more organized setting with seating, a viewing area, etc. People need something desirable to do OUTSIDE the Milk House.

 

[cheeeeer93]

Just a thought but as an immediate change.. Move the judges area. I don't know where it would be moved but the entire back section of the milkhouse was awful seating. That is a couple hundred seats lost. Chairs could be put on the ground level too similar to jostens.

 

[ACEDAD]

If anyone else suggests / insinuates that more people arriving early somehow helps the problem in any way shape or form, I may have to tape down my caps lock key. This includes the idea that not arriving early means people didn't "deserve" to get good seats. Again - 15,000 people do not fit into 3,000 seats. It doesn't matter when they show up.

As perverse and counter-productive as it sounds, the only band-aid to the overcrowding at this point is to make the event much less attractive to the fans. Moving popular divisions away from each other, moving awards to different locations, putting popular divisions at inopportune times, and severely raising the price of admission could all decrease the problem a bit. However, treating the athletes and spectators this way goes against the stated mission of the USASF. Those fans are what can save this sport and/or make it much more mainstream. The governing body of the sport should be doing what it can to savor, nurture, and increase the number of fans & spectators - not trying to find ways to turn them away.

There are people in the industry who have predicted this very thing would happen. Many have been practically screaming for a venue change for years. By 2007, the venue was already to small. The only real solution is to move the event.

Assuming you can't move the event, here are other minor solutions that don't adversely affect the athletes or families.

Thank you for the first suggestion. I'm so, so, so tired of people just suggesting people get there early.

We know the event won't move next year, but hopefully we can put enough pressure that USASF will open their eyes to try to grow the sport through spectators because that's new revenue growth.

 

[redsmom]

Thank you for the first suggestion. I'm so, so, so tired of people just suggesting people get there early.

We know the event won't move next year, but hopefully we can put enough pressure that USASF will open their eyes to try to grow the sport through spectators because that's new revenue growth.

And can I add that more people getting there early will only add to what was already a dangerous situation at 7:45 when the Milkhouse doors opened. I was there and I am thankful that no one was hurt in what seemed like a cross between a Justin Beiber sighting and Black Friday. Hopefully, next years line will be managed via the roped off queue that was implemented later in the day, ensuring an orderly entry and preventing the stampede.

 

[crazycheermom]

This may be a totally stupid question, but how much bigger overall/total is worlds than, say, Cheersport or any of the other big events. Worlds seems to have few overall team, but of course more spectators/parents/etc. Does it all average out about the same? If so, then seems like any of the areas that host one of those events could host words. Personally, seems like it would make sense to have it somewhere in the middle (ish) of the country so nobody is traveling coast to coast... just thinking of places with large event centers/auditoriums .. think professional sports venues... Chicago, St. Louis, Indy, Dallas, New Orleans.. although that last one might be such a good idea considering the whole block party issue..lol..