Where hasn't the Michigan Marching Band been?

While it was a few years before my time, I believe the band made a trip to Illinois in the early 80s. As an interesting side note, in 1988 we actually traveled to Toronto and played at a University of Toronto football game.

Beat Purdue

the band doesn't travel more, especially since other schools, with fewer resources, bring their bands.  We have a good band.  I say bring them to as many away games as possible.

I was in the band in 1979 when we went to Purdue. We didn't spend the night at a nearby town - which was usually the custom. We just drove down and then drove back.

It was Nov. 10, and it was a cold, wet, miserable day. Purdue (with Mark Herrmann) was ranked, and so were we, and we lost the game 24-21 when tight end Norm Betts dropped a ball in the end zone after a big hit. I remember that play, I remember being cold and miserable, I remember that Ross-Ade Stadium looked like a high school stadium, and I remember that West Lafayette was a pit.

Anything prior to the Schembechler years, I don't know.  But having so many game tapes that go back 35 years, I always look to see if the band made the trip.  In "recent" memory, a non-rivalry regular season road trip has been rare. 

The MMB went to Illinois in 2000 (and was treated horribly by jackass Illini fans in the parking lot outside the stadium as they played for Michigan fans who were tailgating.) 

They went to Penn State in 1999 for the Tom Brady comeback.  They were originally scheduled to go again in 2001 but eventually it got reduced to a pep band that went.  They wanted to go to the HUGE games at State College in both 1997 and 2006 but both times, Penn State said, "no."

They went to Northwestern in 1996.  Fuck that game.  We blew a 16-0 4th quarter lead and lost on the final play 17-16.  Going to that game was a major surprise but it was probably available to do because Notre Dame was off the schedule that year. 

Any games at Camp Randall in the 80's, you'd hear the Victors after every Michigan score but it was because Wisconsin played it over the speakers, which blows my mind.  The band wasn't actually there.

And the MMB went to Purdue in 1981....

ITT: People who have no idea how the band works.

They're working through some things.  Now lets forge on.

in 1979.  The Purdue fans were dicks.

So the MMB makes 2-3 trips a year - OSU, MSU, and a bowl. Maybe one more if we open at Jerryworld.

Moving that many people is going to be a logistical nightmare and very expensive (of course it could be done with enough money and a full time travel staff - the football team does it 6-8 times a year after all...). Although people seem to be forgetting that the band is not part of the AD and doesn't get free dibs on that filthy Jordan luchre.

How many trips does a typical band make? Seems like 2-3 is pretty typical - as Bando has noted, the Big House is a marquee trip, so we're kind of seeing everyone's one away game a year.

Then again Michigan would probably get more bang for the buck, at least sending a pep band, given the good showing Michigan fans make at a lot of B1G stadiums (*cough* Northwestern *cough*).

Antarctica?

I think my time in the MMB overlapped with Bando's, but I also was on the staff for one year and got a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at things.  Bando hit the highlights pretty well, but here's a few others:

• Typically the MMB has to pull money out of its own general fund or from the music school just to attend the bowl games.  The bowl game $$ given to schools is rarely enough to fund the entire trip for 300 people.  A lot of times it would result in smaller groups, staying a short time, not attending parades/rallies, staying in crappy hotels, etc.  The MMB will chip in their own money to try and support the team as much as possible with a large group, nearby hotel of adequate quality, attending as many functions as possible, etc.  
• In some bowl years I know that the A/D (depending on who was in charge at the time) would funnel extra funds to help the MMB for those bowl trips.  In other years a generous donor (aka Donald Shepherd) would chip in.  
• In 1996 we went to Northwestern and also played at the Bears game.  Friday we bussed to suburban IL to play at a local high school because we had arranged months in advance to have their families house all ~300 members for the night.  Saturday we played the game and then stayed at a Chicago hotel before playing the NFL game Sunday and leaving.  The MMB went deep in the red financially to support that trip and it was one of the reasons used in future years as to why we couldn't send the band some places.  (Not to mention we were treated horribly by the NU fans and even worse by the Bears fans.)
• Using a high-school band as an example is apples and oranges.  In high school you might go on a trip or two but often those are partially funded by fundraisers for each student and/or the parents have to pay for their student to travel on those trips.  
• For a bowl trip you have to get about 80-100 hotel rooms, charter a large plane, rent 7 buses, rent an 18-wheeler, and also ship all of the large instruments ahead of time.
• For most schools, attending the Big House is their one big trip for the year as others have said.  MSU isn't sending their band to 5 games.
• MSU, WI, and OSU have all had SERIOUS hazing incidents in the past 20 years.
• When WI brought their band in the 90s to Michigan their students were caught trying to steal a piano out of the MMB facility and were banned for several years from returning.  

The biggest thing to take away here is the relationship between the MMB and the Athletic Department.  Often times it is a good relationship, but the AD has a ton of other things they're worried about than a large, expensive organization that isn't part of their department.  They like having the band, but are rarely involved in any aspect of how things are done - from finances, logistics, planning, etc.  

There have been times when the Athletic Director or Head Coach felt strongly enough that they made sure the MMB could make something work.  But as you saw with the first Dallas trip, chipping in several hundred thousand dollars so you can hear the Victors played during a game isn't something that the AD will immediately approve.

Personally, I've always wanted to see the MMB figure out a way to send a smaller, less formal pep band to other stadiums.  You wouldn't even have to perform a show - just send a smaller group to play during the game. Picture Northwestern's stadium half-full of Michigan alums with a band playing the Victors.  That would be more affordable and pretty awesome......

.....now picture it from Northwestern's point of view.  Do they want their stadium singing the fightsong of the opposing team and having to accomodate a bunch of unpaid visitors to their facility?  

The Moon.

Seriously though, the MMB is part of the School of Music, Theater, and Dance, and they just don't have the money to fund more than 1-2 trips a year. The Athletic Department pitches in some money for the bowl trip, but that's about it.

Considering the amount of money that the Athletic Department collects in donations, ticket sales, and TV, they can afford to fund 1 more trip for the band each year. And hopefully someday they will.

Do other Big Ten bands travel to more than a couple road games per year? It seems like Big Ten schools in general are not accomodating to road bands, except for rivalries where the agreement is probably reciprocal. Michigan seems to be the most generous in allowing almost every team to bring their bands, where other schools with smaller stadia might say no.