So the Aggie Band will not be featured as part of the inaugural game on the SEC Network which touts tradition.

It is is hard for serendipity like this story to happen if the band does not go to the game:
http://www.aggieband.com/story/moving.html

So I get that one casualty of joining the SEC is increased travel expenses for road games.

As a result we seem to have shifted from the model when I was in the band of missing no more than 1 away game a year to the new model of going to 50% of the away games.

This year SC, Alabama, and Miss St. fans will not be graced with the performance of the largest precision military marching band in the world.

This is a loss for the fans of those schools (read the story).

The band is going to SMU, Arkansas, and Auburn.

So last year the band went to 2 out of 5 away games (counting the bowl game)

The Arkansas fiasco I blame on Arkansas and will not happen at Cowboy stadium for the next 10 years at least.

But it saddens me that we can afford to spend 450 Million to upgrade Kyle Field but the Association's position on money to send the band to away games:

https://twitter.com/richardallenhay/status/502112364536139776

"It costs several hundred thousands dollars to send band to an away game. They have to pick and choose where they go."

Boo hoo. You either are supporting the pulse of the Spirit of Aggieland as the face of the Corps of Cadets (shown in a LOT of SEC Network film clips I have seen) on the road or you are not.

#GigEm #Aggies

Richard Hay '93
Staff Engineer
Network Testing
Google Platforms

I have twin nine year old daughters

But I will be at the game and it is disappointing that the band will not be there representing the school

You're not gonna like this but I'm more than okay with our band only traveling to 2-3 away games a year. That's plenty when you think about the cost. And WHEN we make a bowl game this year that's gonna be a fourth game they travel to. We will spend upwards to over a million on travel/accommodations for the band. Leave it be!

Open up your checkbook and send a check. Since you had to tell us that you work for Google I am sure you can afford it.

Although I do wish they were playing in Columbia...I mean SMU...really?

So this is the first game ever to be broadcast on the SEC Network. Wouldn't you want some of examples of the school traditions to be proudly on display?

I do donate. As for donating more, how would doing that change these policies one iota?

Every person I've talked with here in Columbia who know the FTAB isn't coming are pretty disappointed.

quote:

---

B-Company Infantry Band at Texas A&M University

---

surprise

Let's think about this....

The game is the week before school starts. FOW is the week before school starts.

That is Joe Ramirez's point also. he says it was a conflict with FOW and out of respect for the freshman the decision was made to skip this game.

I understand why the band is not going. It just makes me sad that the Gamecock fans will be missing out. Maybe in two years it will not be the week before school and the band will go.

Why not just send upperclassmen to the majority of away games? It may be a smaller unit, but it still provides the music to back us up when singing school songs and provides a cool show. Other schools don't seem to have a problem sending at least part of their band to Kyle. Why should we be any different?

quote:

---

So this is the first game ever to be broadcast on the SEC Network. Wouldn't you want some of examples of the school traditions to be proudly on display?

I do donate. As for donating more, how would doing that change these policies one iota?

---

I'm sure South Carolina, the HOME team, will be spotlighted. They can spotlight A&M the very next game.

Thanks, JOHNNY!!!

Question: Would South Carolina's band (or a part of it) be at Kyle is the game was here?

They would probably send a pep band.

But if you want to get anyone riled up, mention the term pep band on here.

quote:

---

I have twin nine year old daughters

---

Inb4 someone asks for Rule #1

[This message has been edited by Bq2014 (edited 8/20/2014 3:42p).]

quote:

---

pep band

---

What a cry baby.

Since we can't send the whole band to every game, we should send the Hullabaloo band to the road games the Aggie Band doesn't go to.

That idea is just silly and worst than not sending the FTAB

Here ya go, OP:

https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1436/gid3give/index.aspx?sid=1436&gid=3&pgid=381&cid=1058

quote:

---

Although I do wish they were playing in Columbia...I mean SMU...really?

---

Dallas trips are relatively cheap...

The band would need around a $40 million endowment to realistically make it to every away game on the interest.

quote:

---

But it saddens me that we can afford to spend 450 Million to upgrade Kyle Field

---

SO... I'm no accountant, but maybe I can help you out here... there is no "we can afford." Plain and simple, someones donated $450M for Kyle Field. Just as you can rally your BQ friends to donate enough to do the following:

quote:

---

The band would need around a $40 million endowment to realistically make it to every away game on the interest.

---

Someone else has donated to upgrade the field. I think $450M on Kyle field is ridiculous... but not as much as spending $80M on an Equine Center for horses to prance around... and not as much as I see all of these Capital projects.

Paying for the BQs to travel would also be Operational vs Capital... not sure that matters.

Personally, $450M ... even $80M or $40M would fund feeding tens-of-thousands of South Sudanese who had their crops bombed and destroyed by the Sudanese government.

We all have our interests and many of them are funded by those interested.

With the move to the SEC I'd bet that ticket availability has as much to do with it as travel costs. Plenty of space for visiting bands in Waco, Ames, Lubbock, etc, but the SEC stadiums not so much.

So they are going to Dallas two times in a row?

So we are skipping our first game on the road? With all the exposure? On the SECN?

Fly in, fly out...no hotel stay, no feeding 375-400 people approx 5-6 times. At this school, all you need to do is ask, and the $$$ flows.

Dont understand this line of thinking...

Can't we just siphon the funds off the PUF

Auburn fan here. I was talking with someone in the AU ticket office this week. They told me that our contract with Texas A&M is for 6,000 seats at each stadium. Earlier this summer your athletic department called to request extra tickets, but we didn't have any available. So with your band coming to Auburn - and I'm thrilled they are - you have effectively taken away seats from 350 to 400 donors. Lots of schools would sacrifice the band for those donors, but I'm glad your athletics department hasn't given in.

quote:

---

With the move to the SEC I'd bet that ticket availability has as much to do with it as travel costs. Plenty of space for visiting bands in Waco, Ames, Lubbock, etc, but the SEC stadiums not so much.

---

quote:

---

So they are going to Dallas two times in a row?

So we are skipping our first game on the road? With all the exposure? On the SECN?

Fly in, fly out...no hotel stay, no feeding 375-400 people approx 5-6 times. At this school, all you need to do is ask, and the $$$ flows.

Dont understand this line of thinking...

---

You'd have to charter some big planes to move everyone. Probably two 737's. Your looking at at least 12 flight hours at $8k-10k hour. Figure in a few grand for busses to and from Houston as well as to and from Columbia's airport to the stadium. You'd still have to provide dinner. You have at least $110k-140k right there. This also assumes you can get all of the equipment onto the planes and don't need to ship it or drive the equipment truck to SC and back. Even bare bones, it's incredibly expensive.

Plus, you may not be able to charter two planes at the same time. You may get one and have to make two trips each way. In that case, you need a place for half the band to stay while waiting for the rest of the band to arrive/the plane to get back to take them home.

Good Bull

The FOW thing is also more of a hang up than most think. For the entire band to move in early to learn drill, they'd have to move in early. ResLife would not be happy with that.

I couldn't care less if the FTAB were there and I'm a former Aggie Bandsman. I wonder why the OP cares more than I do?

Say it isn't so...