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Is it time to defund the band?

DogBoyRy

HR Legend
Jul 28, 2006
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With the budget problems and the band director retiring maybe it's time to really look at the spending of taxpayer $$ for a band. Either that or look for donations to cover the cost.
Just sayin..
 
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What? Even Stanford has a hodge-podge band!!

I don't believe they do. I believe that band is independent of the school.

Edit: Well, upon more review, I guess it is sort of the official Stanford band, although it is student led and run, and not run by the Stanford music department.
 
You do know our band is one of 31 University Marching Bands to win the equivalent of a Marching Band National Championship with the Sudler Trophy. 10 of 14 B1G Universities have one of these awards. Among those still
hunting for their trophy is Wisconsin. I would hate to see Iowa quit sponsoring one the few activities in which our performance exceeds that of Wisconsin.
 
Yes I guess we need a band... always nice for parades and their contribution to such such classics as " In Heaven there is no beer" etc...

But the pre-game and halftime shows are so old and dated and the same dribble of boring non sensical songs played during the game have to improve. We need a band that will energize the student section and not focus so much to entertain the gray hairs .

Maybe with anew director life can be breathed into the stagnant band we have now.

Don't mean to disparage or alienate the members of the band now as they have always represented the U of I well and they work hard at what they do but they are only as good as the direction they are getting.
 
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With the budget problems and the band director retiring maybe it's time to really look at the spending of taxpayer $$ for a band. Either that or look for donations to cover the cost.
Just sayin..

Budget problems? The athletic department is being forced to give money back to the University. I'd say the Athletic department is one of the few arms of the University that is not part of the budget problem.
 
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You do know our band is one of 31 University Marching Bands to win the equivalent of a Marching Band National Championship with the Sudler Trophy. 10 of 14 B1G Universities have one of these awards. Among those still
hunting for their trophy is Wisconsin. I would hate to see Iowa quit sponsoring one the few activities in which our performance exceeds that of Wisconsin.

Which is kind of funny, since the people in Wisconsin thinks their band is the cat's meow.
 
You do know our band is one of 31 University Marching Bands to win the equivalent of a Marching Band National Championship with the Sudler Trophy. 10 of 14 B1G Universities have one of these awards. Among those still
hunting for their trophy is Wisconsin. I would hate to see Iowa quit sponsoring one the few activities in which our performance exceeds that of Wisconsin.

Iowa won in 1990, Iowa State won in 2017.
 
I’ve never been a band guy nor did I play in the band. I couldn’t tote a music note in a bucket. But they are one of the few reasons why I love college football more than the NFL.

Hearing the bands every Saturday is great. Especially in between downs and series. Anymore, most of what you hear is rock music pumped in through the PA system. IMO, college football is losing out.
 
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You do know our band is one of 31 University Marching Bands to win the equivalent of a Marching Band National Championship with the Sudler Trophy. 10 of 14 B1G Universities have one of these awards. Among those still
hunting for their trophy is Wisconsin. I would hate to see Iowa quit sponsoring one the few activities in which our performance exceeds that of Wisconsin.

Not to rain on your parade, but just need to throw in a few facts here... To be completely fair and honest, I wouldn't compare it to a National Title, since you can only win the award once, so 1 out of 31 when you consider there are only 65 power conference schools is only top 50% (award not exclusive to power 5 but they should have the best bands). Now, we were the 9th school selected for the award, which is a little more of an accomplishment. However that still made us the 5th Big Ten school to win the award. But I think that speaks to the tradition of marching bands in the Big Ten more than anything, and is why its important that we have one.
 
Marching bands in college football have survived folk, rock-n-roll, disco, rap, hiphop, house, and EDM. They will outlast whatever comes next. We don't need any Bill Veeck promotional stunts. If students can't get up for the game without a dance track then f*** 'em. Generation of pussies, I guess.
 
The band playing at any collage football game is part of what I like about collage football! And the tax payers money comment .....WTH??
 
Curious about the cost. (And pro-band) How many scholarships do they give out each year? How many paid staff? Anyone know?
 
Scholarships ......I bet those kids would love it if there were scholarships available. I believe the only way any of these kids could be on scholarship is if they are a music major and are on a music scholarship ....none available to be in just the band. Paid staff .....not many besides Castens....... T.A.'s are used a lot. I believe there are people involved that are music people but used for just the band? I'm sure there are people that could answer these questions better than me ....but I think my answers are pretty close!
 
Budget problems? The athletic department is being forced to give money back to the University. I'd say the Athletic department is one of the few arms of the University that is not part of the budget problem.

The band is not part of the athletic dept and uses taxpayer money except when they travel to bowl games where they use the bowl $$ given back to the school. Of course the school could use those $$ to reduce the tution increase just as well.
 
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"This next piece is from the British rock group The Who....here's 'WHO.....are YOU?'"
 
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You do know our band is one of 31 University Marching Bands to win the equivalent of a Marching Band National Championship with the Sudler Trophy. 10 of 14 B1G Universities have one of these awards. Among those still
hunting for their trophy is Wisconsin. I would hate to see Iowa quit sponsoring one the few activities in which our performance exceeds that of Wisconsin.

Snoor. Wiscys band is 100 times better than ours ever dreamed of being.
 
Budget problems? The athletic department is being forced to give money back to the University. I'd say the Athletic department is one of the few arms of the University that is not part of the budget problem.

U of I budget problems tard.
Not the athletic dept.
 
Im assuming the biggest cost related to the band is travel. So if bowl money covers the band what exactly are the costs

Clean uniforms every year
Lost revenue from their seats
A few buses to travel to Ames every other year

Doesnt seem terribly cost saving to get rid of a football staple and look like complete fools to the nation. Pay a mediocre coach $5mil and nix 100 poor college kids a chance to play a trumpet for a few hours 8x a year
 
With the budget problems and the band director retiring maybe it's time to really look at the spending of taxpayer $$ for a band. Either that or look for donations to cover the cost.
Just sayin..
Just sayin buh-bye
 
Im assuming the biggest cost related to the band is travel. So if bowl money covers the band what exactly are the costs

Clean uniforms every year
Lost revenue from their seats
A few buses to travel to Ames every other year

Doesnt seem terribly cost saving to get rid of a football staple and look like complete fools to the nation. Pay a mediocre coach $5mil and nix 100 poor college kids a chance to play a trumpet for a few hours 8x a year

I’d rather use the bowl $$ to reduce tution increases or even buy escorts for recruits like louisville.
 
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