Introducing the 2024 DCI Imperialism Map Project

Below is a post first published in June 2024 introducing the 2024 DCI Imperialism Map Project. This post will also serve as a "hub" for the series throughout the summer. Feel free to check back here as new weekly results are released and to consult how the maps will be structured. Happy reading!

Week 1 Results

Week 2 Results

Week 3 Results

Week 4 Results

Week 5 Results

Final Results

A few weeks ago, we shared a post on Instagram with a map of the United States split up to show the closest active DCI drum corps to over 3,000 counties in the contiguous US. The post went viral in the marching arts community and has over 1600 likes to date!

The post was also shared to Reddit where one user commented and suggested that we keep track of an “Imperialism Map” for the 2024 season. As you can see in the replies, this is something we had already been thinking of doing, and we’re here to share that it will be a reality this summer!

Welcome to the 2024 DCI Imperialism Map Project

Imperialism maps are popular in other communities of sports fans, most notably college football. The origin and creator of the idea is unclear, but one of the first we found was made in 2017. Since then, other sports media outlets have picked up the concept, and some like SBNation, have expanded on the idea to make them as content for their website.

The idea is simple: at the beginning of the season, the country is divided so that every county is assigned to the school/team that is closest to it. The season begins with every team “owning” their area of lands and as it progresses, teams can acquire the land owned by the opponents that they beat. By the end of the season, winners can be declared based on which team owns the highest number of counties or land.

Depending on how the season progresses, most land tends to be owned by only a handful of teams by the end of the season depending on the number of undefeated teams and “who beat who.” For example, the final imperialism map for the 2023 college football season was overwhelmingly controlled by the University of Michigan after their season ended as undefeated National Champions. However, because every college football team doesn’t play each other in a given season, it is nearly impossible for one team to ever control the entire map at the end of the season.

How the DCI Imperialism Map will work

Our drum corps imperialism map will differ from the example explained above. Because head-to-head match-ups don’t occur in the traditional sense of team sports, corps will instead acquire the land surrounding the areas of shows that they win, rather than the land surrounding each corps’ home location. Additionally, corps will not be able to acquire land by beating other corps, mainly in the interest of parity and keeping the maps exciting. The last two seasons ended with an undefeated champion. If the same were to occur this year and corps were able to acquire land owned by other corps, a large portion of the map could theoretically be decided by San Antonio, when the World Class corps meet up for the first time. Alternatively, there were 21 corps in World and Open class that won at least one show in the 2023 season. Assuming a similar number win shows this season, we can expect a somewhat more balanced map by the end of the season.

We will also keep track of three maps for each class. In the 2024 season, there are 87 total competitive events scheduled across all three classes, including all rounds of World Championships. When broken down by class:

• 63 events will feature at least one World Class corps

• 50 events will feature at least one Open Class corps

• 24 events will feature at least one All Age corps

Therefore the World Class map will be divided to find the counties/land closest to each of the 63 shows and the World Class corps that places first in the class at each show will acquire the show’s land. The same will hold true for Open and All Age classes.

Here are some more specific rules that the maps will follow:

• Only counties in the 48 contiguous states will be up for grabs; the maps will not include counties for Alaska or Hawaii.

• Since All Age corps have regionally focused events in only 12 different states, only counties in those states will be up for grabs.

• As mentioned earlier, the first place corps in each class will be awarded the show’s area on the map for their given class. In a rare case of a tie for first place, the corps that had the previous higher score to date will be awarded the land.

• Should an event be canceled due to weather, the corps with the highest score of the season to date will be awarded that show’s land. If an early season event with two or more corps making their 2024 debuts is canceled, the highest placing corps from the 2023 season will be awarded that show’s land.

• The following events will follow special criteria:

  • Corps at the Crest is split into two shows on June 28th & 29th with the same lineup of corps performing both nights. The corps with the highest score between the two nights will be awarded the land for that show.

  • The DCI Eastern Classic in Allentown is split into two shows on August 2nd and 3rd with different lineups of corps on each night. Similarly, the corps with the highest score of the two nights will be awarded the land for that show.

  • World Championships will be considered as one event for each class for the purpose of the maps. The Open Class champion will be awarded land surrounding Marion, IN, while the World Class and All Age Class champions will be awarded land surrounding Indianapolis.

As we progress through the season, updated maps will be shared weekly on Mondays via a blog post at bandscores.net/blog. Updates will include the list of shows from the previous week with class winners. Updates will also include a running tally of the number of shows won by each corps, the number of counties claimed by each corps and the number of shows/counties still up for grabs.

Below are the starting maps for each class with the areas of land that will be up for grab for each show. Let’s have some fun with this this summer!