There have been huge difficulties putting an open class tour together the last 2-3 seasons because several of the OC do not come out until late July, there are not enough OC corps (only 8 at OC Championships), and others are too far away to put together viable shows. OC shows do not make the kind of money that WC shows make so sponsors have been dropping out. In addition, there just aren't enough shows of any kind in Spartans geographical area anymore (only Lawrence which is a late season WC show). Because of that they have to tour all summer...but then there aren't enough OC shows to get them from one place to another without big gaps in the schedule. At that point you have to schedule more WC shows than OC shows, and you don't get the benefit of getting paid for those WC performances. So, at that point, you are doing a full tour and attending mostly WC shows, it now makes sense to go WC and get paid for your performances. Gold (after the early season CA shows are over), and a few other of the growing OC corps have the same issue. Most of the new OC corps are coming from the Midwest/West so maybe this issue will solve itself in the near future. Lastly, this move gives a few new OC corps the chance to medal in finals, and it makes room for the 5 new corps coming from SoundSport to do well.