Corps just sent this out.

To maximize the game-day experience for all Aggies and visitors, the 2023 season marks the last season the Corps of Cadets will conduct a march-in to Kyle Field. The South Carolina game on Oct. 28 is the only game during the 2023 season in which the Corps will march into the stadiuM.


https://today.tamu.edu/2023/06/28/corps-of-cadets-announces-march-in-schedule-for-2023-football-season/

As for years now, there'll still be the usual Corps campus march around every home gameday, it just won't enter Kyle.

SEC rules say you can't enter a stadium, leave and get back in again, so no one wants to stop tailgating to sit in empty Kyle 90 minutes before the game when they can see the Corps march around campus without being trapped.

Besides, the objective is to spotlight the Corps to the hundreds of thousands of visitors each season and the campus march around does a far better job of that.

Rabid Cougar said:

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New game day entry policies, new emphasis on tailgating experiences and cramped sidelines sealed the deal.

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I figured.

My son is in the corps and will be a senior this year. I really like the march ins around campus, they get a lot more visibility. They have to go into Kyle so early, there's nobody in there. I'd go in to watch him and then realize, I have to kill almost 90 minutes in here.

The Aggie park one last year was really cool, as was West Campus. I think the tailgaters like it.

Fine with it. No one is in Kyle that early anymore anyways. Love that they get exposure around campus.

West campus March in was always miserable. Around main campus isn't bad.

I applaud the commandant for getting out ahead of things on Facebook but man people are riled up to assume things and get mad

Posted also:

Quote:

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All - Commandant here.
If you have been to a march in on Kyle Field anytime in the last decade, you'll realize that your mental image and reality are vastly different.
The Corps has been marching into a basically empty Kyle Field stands for quite some time. Why? SEC rules prevent anyone that comes into a football stadium from leaving the stadium 90 minutes before play - therefore few actually watch the March-Ins. Further: at the same time the stands are empty, the football teams are warming up on the field as we are marching in.
Quite simply, it does not meet the mark for me.
I'd rather have the Corps front and center of the entire university which tail-gates all over campus. Marching into an empty football stadium with teams warming up is not where we need to be.
This was a hard and easy decision to make. Hard because of the nostalgia and tradition - fully knowing it would not be received well. Easy because of the reality of the sheer lack of attendance of march-ins. Easy because of the positive effect we have when the Corps marches in front of all Aggies.
I realize why this forum is the way it is, but I hope you understand some of the logic in the decision making. I recognize it is not popular. But I also realize it is right.
Commandant

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Naveronski said:

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It's the CCCP paying for TikTok views of march-in so they can gather intel on incoming military officers.

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Unrelated but TikTok is a favorite hill of mine to die on.

The number of people my age that don't believe the app has any value to spread info/disinfo etc but still buy every product that starts trending on it blows me away.

Well, it breaks my heart, but you had to see it coming.

The important thing is to continue the tradition of the Corps marching to, and attending the games. Yes, it sucks that it's not at Kyle, but I agree with the above that there is more exposure marching through campus.

I support the Commandant making this change.

Fifty years ago, when I was a BQ and dinosaurs roamed the earth, March-in was already sparsely attended. You'd get a few hundred cadet parents in the stands and that was it. And this was in a day when tailgating really wasn't a big thing.

My Dad '49 was one of the few who loved it. Huge supporter of the Corps, huge football fan. He loved watching the Corps march in, followed by watching the football teams warm up.

As far as the actual march-in, the Band would march to the center of Kyle Field, and play while the Corps marched in. The Astroturf was usually about 120 degrees by that point. Then the BQs would go sit in the stands and bake for the hour before kick-off, while the CTs would go back to their dorms. Often they would change into midnights, or whatever else was more comfortable than the uniform for march-in.

That would work if the Corps did as the Service Academies do. March onto the field, stand for Anthem, walk into the stands

No review, no circling the field, no guidons, no color guards, etc

Pro Sandy said:

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CanyonAg77 said:

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The football field belongs to the teams at that point, no way you can match in past all the coaches, players, assistants, equipment boxes, TV equipment, officials, etc etc etc

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Naval Academy does that. They have the entire brigade march on 30 minutes prior, conduct national anthem, then take their seats.

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How many nationally televised home games does Navy have again?

The sidelines at Kyle are an absolute zoo starting with the team warm up session. At h-:30 you can forget it.

Video, camera, coaches, trainers, reporters and 10,000 other muldoons are on the "track" by h-:30.

Again, you notice the Academies don't circle the field. Out to the middle, anthem, off

Rabid Cougar said:

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The Academies run the show on their football fields. The Aggie Athletic Department runs the show on Kyle. They just let the Corps participate .. sort of…

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Exactly. At the academies, the corps is the entire student body and the sole reason they exist, so of course they showcase their cadets. In contrast, our Corps is just one small fragment of what A&M has going on and accommodating it is understandably a much lower priority for the University.

My immediate gut reaction was one of outrage but I thought about it for a bit and my conclusion was "eh, makes sense since with the SEC policies". It's not the end of the world

in the same vein-

if you have never been to an Army/Navy game and watched the pre-game march in..

that's a bucket list activity

I once suggested necking down wi-fi capacity after kick-off with full capacity restored during time-outs and for the quarter and halftime breaks.

People responded as though I'd kicked their dog.