Band marching on?
The CSU Marching Band may not be traveling with the CSU football
team when it plays in the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl on Dec.
31, due to a possible lack of funding.
Gary Ozzello, senior associate athletic director, said the
university is doing everything it can to get the band, which has
more than 220 members according to its Web site, to San Francisco
for the 8:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) game against Boston College.
“We are making plans to have a band presence at the bowl game,”
Ozzello said. “The university administration and Mark Driscoll, the
athletic director, are working as hard as they can to make sure
that we have a band presence at the bowl game.”
Steven Moore, director of bands at CSU, said taking the band to
San Francisco would be very expensive. He said Boston College will
bring its band to the game, but not in the band’s entirety.
“The latest word I have from Boston College is they’re only
taking 37 people out of their 180-piece marching band,” Moore said,
adding that the low number of members will make things difficult
for the band. “To do the pre-game and halftime show is nearly
impossible. And 37 people will not be heard in Pac Bell
Stadium.”
Jarrod Schleiger, a drum major in the band, said he understands
the university’s inability to send the band to the game and would
rather not go than only send some band members.
“My feeling on it is we take all the band or we take none of the
band,” he said. “I would rather (the trip) not come out of the
university general budget and have it affect academic
programs.”
CSU receives a $750,000 payout for the San Francisco Bowl.
Ozzello said CSU receives about $270,000 of that cost and tries to
earn up the rest through ticket sales.
“We’re looking into exactly what we might be able to do within
the fiscal realities of this bowl,” said Tom Milligan, spokeman for
CSU. “Obviously the band is important to the institution.”
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