Year End Events

The 2008-09 season marked a turning point for cheerleading and dance, end of the season championships. Varsity Brands and friends started the International All Levels Championship (IALC) with 5 championship sites while JAM Brands joined with the Nation’s Leading Cheer Companies (NLCC) to convert the one site Final Destination into the 4 location US Finals. Over 1500 teams attended these events, including over 600 teams making the trip to Virginia Beach for US Finals, making it one of the 5 largest events of the season. We expect these events to grow significantly next season because programs are now aware of them. Last season it seems as though most people found out about these events when they received an invitation, but didn’t attend since they weren’t planning on attending a similar event. This season more teams are aware of them and already planning on attending.

Based on this season US Finals is the winner, but it is way too early to make a call on which event will become the more prestigious event. Around 550 teams attended the 4 IALC events held this season while just over 1000 attended the 4 US Finals events. To be fair we must point out IALC had to cancel the San Antonio event due to Swine Flu concerns. We don’t know how many teams were registered for San Antonio, but will make 2 assumptions. One, given Varsity’s, specifically NCA’s, presence in Texas it would have been pretty well attended. Two, it would not have been large enough (450 teams) for IALC to be larger than US Finals.

International All Levels Championship

• Atlanta – Approximately 150 teams
• Atlantic City – 140
• Columbus – 70
• Los Angeles – 195
• San Antonio – Canceled due to Swine Flu concerns.

US Finals

• Cincinnati – Approximately 200 teams
• Las Vegas – 115
• Oklahoma City – 100
• Virginia Beach – 600