2024 Bands of America Season by the Numbers

The Bands of America fall marching band season is back and bigger than ever.

The 2024 season officially kicked off this past weekend in Toledo, Ohio which concluded with the first Regional Championship of the season won by Indiana’s Homestead HS, their first since 2019. The season really ramps up over the coming weeks with four events scheduled for this weekend, followed by five events each on September 28th and October 5th.

To celebrate the return of the competitive fall marching band season and the final season for the marching arts in 2024, we thought it’d be fun to dive into some of the numbers of the upcoming season. We’re also excited to share that this piece accompanies the release of our 2024 BOA Scores Dashboard, now available under the marching band section of the website. Let’s dive in.

The biggest season in BOA history

You’ve probably heard this phrase before - this year will be Bands of America’s largest season ever. The same could have been said about the 2023 and 2022 seasons at the time, as BOA continues to see steady growth over the past decade. This year will feature a record 30 events including Grand Nationals with 687 different bands signed up for 924 prelims performance spots at time of writing, up from 644 and 855 respectively in 2023. Check out the table below to see how these numbers compare with recent seasons. (click for a full screen view)

One way that this season will not be record breaking is the number of states that will be represented. Bands from 36 states will be participating, down only one to the 37 states represented in the 2023 and 2022 seasons. Unsurprisingly, Texas leads the way with 185 different bands that will be competing, followed by the midwestern trio of Indiana with 70 bands, Ohio with 46 bands, and Missouri with 36 bands.

Nearly every event from the last year is back on the schedule with the exception of the Whitewater, WI Regional which kicked off the 2023 season. Notable events throughout this season include:

• New events in San Marcos, TX and Moscow, ID. The Idaho Regional marks BOA’s return to the Pacific Northwest for the first time since 2014 and a return to Idaho for the first time since 1985.

• Both the Mid-Atlantic Regional returns to the University of Delaware and the Waco Regional returns to Baylor University for the first time since 2022.

• The West/South Houston, Alabama, West Texas, and Southern California Regionals will all be at new venues for the 2024 season.

• 88 bands will be participating in the Indianapolis Super Regional making it for the largest Super Regional in BOA history.

The season will span a total of ten weekends making it the longest season since 2007. This is largely due to Grand Nationals being scheduled for November 14th-16th, which will make it the latest Grand Nationals on the calendar since the event in 2019 shared the same dates.

Speaking of Grand Nationals...

Records are being broken at Grand Nationals, too. As of writing, 112 bands are registered for the three day championship event, making it the largest Grand Nationals ever and the first to exceed 100 bands since 2018. However, despite this high enrollment, only 20 states will be represented compared to 18 in 2023, 20 in 2022, and 19 in 2021. Ohio leads the way with 27 bands attending, followed by Indiana with 18 and Kentucky with 16.

When talking about Grand Nationals, everyone loves to focus on how many Texas bands will be attending, and for good reason - since 2012, 52 Texas bands have attended Grand Nationals and of those, 51 have made semifinals and 40 have made finals. Only six bands from the Lone Star state will be attending in 2024, two fewer from last year’s record of eight Of the six, Argyle HS, Bridgeland HS, and Friendswood HS will be making their first appearances at Grand Nationals while Prosper HS, Leander HS, and Cedar Park HS make their first appearances since 2022, 2019, and 2016 respectively.

One final notable Grand Nationals attendee is Cheney HS who will be making the trip from Washington state. They will be the first band ever from Washington to compete in Grand Nationals and the first band from the Pacific Northwest to attend since West Salem HS from Oregon did so in 2018.

Storylines to keep an eye on

Of the top 150 bands that had the highest scores in the 2023 season, 143 will be competing in at least one BOA event this season. Given these numbers and how competitive and exciting the 2023 season was, here are just five of the many interesting storylines coming into this season:

1. Four of the six bands that have won the last 15 Grand National Championships will be attending this year, including Avon HS who won last year for the first time since 2010. Will Avon or one of the other three bands (Carmel HS, Broken Arrow HS and Tarpon Springs HS) add another championship to their trophy case, or will the 2024 title go to a first time winner?

2. Vandegrift HS won their first ever San Antonio Super Regional last year and set a new record score for the Super Regional in doing so. Will they repeat as champions this year or will the Super Regional championship be claimed by a different band?

3. Broken Arrow HS returns to the St. Louis Super Regional after missing the event last year which was ultimately won by Blue Springs HS for their first ever Super Regional Championship. They’ll be joined by Bentonville HS who became a Grand National finalist for the first time last year, as well as a number of returning 2023 St. Louis Super Regional finalists. Will Broken Arrow HS return as champions after winning every St. Louis Super Regional from 2013 to 2022, or will a different band take home the title yet again?

4. A competitive field of 25 bands at the Chattanooga Regional is led by a number of former Grand Nationals semifinalists and finalists such as Dobyns-Bennett HS, Harrison HS, and Lassiter HS. At last year’s inaugural Chattanooga Regional, North HS overcame a fourth place finish in prelims to win their first ever Regional Championship by only 0.35. Will such drama repeat itself in this year’s iteration?

5. This year’s Orlando Regional is similarly competitive featuring a number of powerhouse programs from Florida, Harrison HS and Kennesaw HS from the Atlanta area, and Vista Murrieta HS making the long trip from California. Tarpon Springs HS has won the Orlando Regional the past three years and four times in the last five seasons - will they continue that winning streak this year?

With 30 events and over 600 bands competing, there will be no shortage of more storylines to follow as the season progresses. One thing is for certain though - the fall marching band season is back, bigger than ever, and we can’t wait to watch and see how it all unfolds.