MCBA hosts their State Finals Competition on Saturday, November 5, at Ford Field in Detroit. The address for Ford Field is 2000 Brush Street, Detroit, Michigan. There are several parking structures available near Ford Field, and parking for the Finals event is $6 at the Ford Field garage (This price is only guaranteed at their garage).
Tickets are available the day of the competition, and in an effort to avoid long lines, all ticket sales are cash only. Tickets for Adults are $16. For Students and Seniors, the price is $12. Children under 5 are free. The Ticket Booths open at 7:00am, and the gates into the stadium open at 7:15am. Competition begins with Flight I at 8:15am. Flight II begins at 12:00pm; Flight III at 3:45pm; and, Flight IV at 7:30pm. We wish the best of luck to all 48 bands, and cannot wait to see how the season wraps up this year. After the jump, please find the line up for the competition and some very important notes regarding the day.
The lineup for the flights is as follows:
Flight I
8:15a Lakeland
8:30a Novi
8:45a Grandville
9:00a Troy Athens
9:15a Clarkston
9:30a Grand Blanc
9:45a Walled Lake Central
10:00a Lake Orion
10:15a Rockford
10:30a Plymouth-Canton
10:45a West Bloomfield
11:00a L’Anse Creuse
11:15a Awards
Flight II
12:00p Farmington
12:15p Woodhaven
12:30p Milford
12:45p Wyandotte Roosevelt
1:00p Carman-Ainsworth
1:15p Lakeview (St. Clair Shores)
1:30p South Lyon
1:45p Farmington Harrison
2:00p Jenison
2:15p Southgate Anderson
2:30p Flushing
2:45p Reeths-Puffer
3:00p Awards
Flight III
3:45p Marysville
4:00p Lamphere
4:15p Cedar Springs
4:30p Fruitport
4:45p Mt. Pleasant
5:00p Linden
5:15p Byron Center
5:30p Northview
5:45p DeWitt
6:00p Redford Thurston
6:15p Ferndale
6:30p Stevensville: Lakeshore
6:45p Awards
Flight IV
7:30p Comstock Park
7:45p South Lake
8:00p Columbia Central
8:15p Durand
8:30p Allegan
8:45p Edwardsburg
9:00p Parchment
9:15p Watervliet
9:30p Newaygo
9:45p Belding
10:00p Godwin Heights
10:15p Grant
10:30p Awards
Important Notes for MCBA State Finals
A. Transitions of audience between flights has always been difficult, even back when only 10 bands competed per flight. This year, 12 bands compete per flight, for a total of 48 bands. MCBA allots 45 minutes for each awards ceremony. As we all know by now, we will have to wait nearly 15 minutes for the awards ceremony to begin, and MCBA State Finals Award ceremonies are notoriously lengthy, with many additional awards that are not dealt with during the regular season.
This will cause headaches for transitioning! We strongly recommend fans for following flights arrive early. We may be over exaggerating things a little, but you are probably safe with arriving during the prior flight’s award ceremony. For example, if you’re with Marysville, we recommend trying to arrive at or before 3:00pm. You should have ample time to enter the seating area and try to find a seat from Flight II spectators who are leaving.
B. When entering/exiting the stands between flights, it has been suggested that those leaving exit up, then out, and that those entering enter toward the end zones and walk through the seating area towards the 50. We also strongly recommending participating in this suggestion. You know how frustrating it can get at a freeway interchange during rush hour; let’s try to avoid as many headaches as possible. Also, when leaving the stands, it may also behoove you to head toward the end zones, and then up.
C. We will be trying our hardest to update scores as the day goes along, depending on the battery life of our phones. The Michigan Marching staff might be a little crazy, but we try to attend the entire day. If you would like to skip out on awards, we will try to get the awards posted during/after each awards ceremony, and we encourage you to check out our website (www.michiganmarching.com) for these updates.
D. In the past, there have been many issues that arise due to the Event Staff that Ford Field hires for the day. These staff members are contracted employees and are not directly employed through Ford Field. For many of them, this event is their first experience with the Marching Arts. Because of such, and because of having worked NFL Football games, they are not trained to handle the Marching Band crowd. In the past, I have personally experienced, on more than one occasion, and in more than one circuit of marching competition, Event Staff members telling spectators to enter the stadium during a band (or corps) performance. This is not acceptable.
Please remember that no matter where you enter the seating area, it is disrespectful to the band performing and other spectators. If an Event Staff tells you to do this, do not. If they tell you that you must then move, because it is a “safety hazard,” please back up, but do not enter the stands during a band’s performance. Also, please inform the staff member of appropriate Marching Band etiquette. I have missed far too many bands over the years due to trying to find appropriate staff members to ask them to instruct their contracted staff employees on proper etiquette for these events.
Also, I completely respect everything that MCBA does as an organization. Through conversation with them, I have discovered that they do not believe that there are issues that arise with employees at Ford Field. I will avoid going into detail over the problems I have faced, but I am posing a “call-to-arms” to all spectators this season: If you have any problem with Ford Field employees (any employee, regardless if they are Event Staff or directly hired by Ford Field), please let us know through our Contact page. If there are issues, we will comprise a letter to MCBA to inform them of the issues that their spectators face.