Two longtime Open Class corps, Gold of San Diego and The Battalion of Salt Lake City, have been approved to transition to Drum Corps International’s World Class division beginning with the 2027 DCI Summer Tour.
The decision comes after a vote by DCI’s member organizations during their fall planning meeting last week in Seattle. It follows a thorough multi-year review of both organizations’ operations and finances by DCI officials to ensure their long-term viability. Gold and The Battalion follow in the footsteps of the Spartans, another longtime Open Class participant, who completed their transition to World Class touring in 2026.
“Our goal in Open Class is to create a complete life cycle for drum corps from early SoundSport teams to sustainable World Class competitors,” said DCI Open Class coordinator David Eddleman. “When corps like Gold and The Battalion make the transition to World Class touring, it shows that our developmental model not only train performers, but also builds resilient and enduring organizations.”
During the evaluation process, DCI officials review key operational benchmarks, including multi-year financial audits, board governance, rehearsal and housing logistics, and tour management capabilities. To ease the shift to World Class demands, leadership from Gold and The Battalion participated in a mentorship program pairing them with veteran World Class corps directors.
“This is a culmination of everything we’ve been building over the last 12 years,” Battalion director Tyler Hess said. “For our staff and members, there’s definitely excitement, but I think it will mostly feel like a natural next step, because we’ve always seen ourselves as headed in this direction. We’ve been incredibly honored by the new fans we’ve met on the road as our tours have grown longer each year. We’re excited to grow that community as we take this step.”
“Moving into World Class is a big moment for Gold. It’s something we’ve been working toward for a long time, even if it wasn’t always the immediate goal in front of us,” Gold executive director Kevin Valentine said. “We’ve always worked hard to make drum corps accessible and to create a place where members can grow as performers and as people. That remains important to us regardless of what classification we compete in.”
Founded in 2014, The Battalion first joined the DCI Tour in 2016 as an Open Class corps, focusing on building a local foundation in the Salt Lake City area while touring regionally.
“In the short term, we hope to build a corps that serves our community and represents it well to the world,” current Battalion board member Dallin Hatch said in 2016 after the corps was approved to join DCI’s Open Class. “In the long term, we aim to build an organization that has staying power and continues to provide world-class learning and performance experiences for our members, and meaningful, impactful shows for fans.”
After navigating DCI’s canceled 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Battalion returned to competition in 2022 with its most ambitious national schedule to date, culminating in its debut at the DCI World Championships in Indiana. The corps finished seventh in Open Class that summer and has climbed the standings every year since — placing fifth in 2023, fourth in 2024, and earning its first bronze medal with a third-place finish in 2025. In 2026, the corps reached a new high-water mark, winning the Open Class World Championship Prelims before finishing as the silver medalist.
While the primary distinction between Open Class and World Class is typically an expanded national tour, Hess noted that The Battalion’s existing travel footprint makes 2027 a natural evolution.
“What some may not know is that we’ve been a nationally touring corps for several years,” Hess said. “We travel more than 8,000 miles a year and spend two months together. Given how far we travel and what we’re already doing, World Class felt like the natural next step, and it lets us continue to grow the member experience.”
Founded in Hawthorne, California, in 2005, Gold spent its earliest seasons touring regionally with a focus on serving students in Southern California. The corps launched its national presence with a debut at the DCI World Championships in 2012, establishing an early hallmark for creative show concepts. One of the corps’ most memorable milestones came in 2013 with “East Meets West,” a production that featured guest acrobats from China’s Laizhou Martial Arts Institute performing alongside the corps.
In 2018, Gold earned its first Open Class bronze medal and advanced to the DCI World Championship Semifinals for the first time. When DCI returned to the field in 2021 following the canceled 2020 season, Gold was among the only Open Class groups to participate in the non-competitive DCI Celebration Tour. Since taking bronze in 2018, the corps has maintained an unbroken streak as an Open Class medalist, capturing four bronze and three silver medals.
“Gold has spent many years building its identity in Open Class, and we’re incredibly proud of that history,” Valentine said. “Moving into World Class doesn’t change where we came from. It gives us an opportunity to take what we’ve built and see where we can go next.”
The dual approval of Gold and The Battalion follows the successful 2026 World Class debut of the Spartans, who served as a pilot program for an evaluation process that has been tweaked and refined in recent years. By demonstrating that a well-managed Open Class corps can expand its operational scale without compromising financial stability, the Nashua, New Hampshire-based corps provided a concrete blueprint for Gold and The Battalion to follow.
That systematic approach reflects a fundamental shift in how Drum Corps International views its developmental ranks. The goal is to shepherd groups through a complete life cycle while providing a runway for emerging SoundSport teams to build sustainable operating models, offering Open Class corps a pathway into World Class touring, and giving struggling organizations a structured environment to rebuild if necessary.
“Successful transitions like those of Spartans, Gold and The Battalion signal that the pipeline is not only active, but capable of producing resilient organizations built for the long haul,” Eddleman said.
With the Drum Corps International offseason in full swing, Gold and The Battalion will focus their efforts on recruitment as they build their ranks for their World Class debuts in 2027.
“There’s a lot of excitement coming out of last summer, and we’re riding that momentum,” Hess said. “We’ve already seen a lot of interest from prospective corps members, and we’re looking forward to welcoming students who want to make history with us in our first year as a World Class corps.”
Gold leadership noted similar enthusiasm heading into their winter audition camps which will kick off on December 12 in Eastvale, California.
“There’s definitely a different level of excitement around this off-season,” Valentine said. “For the members joining us in 2027, there’s something pretty special about knowing they’ll be the first group to represent Gold in World Class. Nobody gets another first World Class season. They’ll always be able to say they were part of it.”
Prospective performers can find audition information and interest forms for both corps at MarchBTAL.org (The Battalion) and JoinGold.org (Gold).
Fans can look for the 2027 World Class summer tour schedules for both organizations when Drum Corps International releases the official 2027 DCI Tour schedule on November 25.
