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Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Dazed and Confused on 9/16/2025, 3:00 pm

Have any of you ever been told that as the visiting team, you were not allowed to march at halftime due to the home team having a ceremony at halftime? The home band will be performing pregame and we were told we could not perform. Just curious about that and if any of you ever experienced that and how you handled it.

TYIA for your time.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by really retired on 9/17/2025, 4:21 pm, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

happened to me once in Okla. I wrote a letter to the OSSAA and complained. They issued a ruling in our favor. Sure made other director mad. He was doing it to keep other bands off his field. They never saw competition. He called me a "bad' name next time we met. m

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Curious on 9/17/2025, 4:15 pm, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

UIL Half-Time Regulations – from UIL Football Manual

The NCAA Football Rules specify a penalty be assessed to the home team at the beginning of the second half if the halftime exceeds allowable limits. Texas high schools play by NCAA rules, therefore the half-time length regulations will be enforced by football officials.

Maximum half-time length for UIL varsity games is 28 minutes. Please note that half-time is not required to be this long. Many districts have adopted a shorter period of time, for example 24 minutes. Note: Junior high and sub-varsity half-time should not be longer than 20 minutes.

Timing for the half-time should begin when all players and personnel have cleared the field at the end of the first half of play.

Bands should be ready at that time to come onto the field for their half-time show. Undue delay by the visiting team band could result in a penalty being assessed to the home school. Many schools are placing a time limit on each band, insuring that the first part of the half-time intermission will not cause the entire half-time to exceed the allotted time limit.

Football teams should have at least 3-4 minutes to warm up after the half-time intermission prior to the second-half kickoff.

When homecoming activities and/or other half-time activities necessitate an extra long half-time, it may be advisable for the visiting band to give its show prior to the game.

Both schools should cooperate to ensure proper half-time procedures.

Source:
UIL Half-Time Regulations from UIL Football Manual

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Beagle on 9/18/2025, 7:42 am, in reply to "Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

Nowhere does that say that each school is required to be allotted time at halftime.

Just saying.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Curious on 9/18/2025, 12:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

I never said it did. I copied and pasted directly from the UIL website and even provided the link to the exact page.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Beagle on 9/18/2025, 3:05 pm, in reply to "Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

I'm just saying - for all the people that think they're "entitled to half of halftime" - no you're not.

There's no rule aside from basic politeness and usual tradition that requires everyone have half of halftime.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Except on 9/18/2025, 9:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

It does state that BOTH SCHOOLS should work together to…
I feel like that implies that the home school doesn’t control the whole halftime.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by bison on 9/17/2025, 12:27 pm, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

been there.... we were able to work with other team to perform pre game show

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by ovwrkdnundrpd on 9/17/2025, 10:15 am, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

Several times due to homecoming or the sorts. We just performed after the game.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by band on 9/17/2025, 9:52 am, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

Will they allow you to march in single time?

Sorry...I had to. On a serious note, you should get your Principal and Fine Arts Director involved asap. Hopefully they can talk to the opposing districts athletics/fine arts coordinators to come up with a better solution for your kids to perform. If push comes to shove, like the other poster mentioned, get UIL secretaries involved.

An unnecessary amount of leg work just to give your kids the performance opportunity they should have by default, for sure.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Kramer on 9/17/2025, 9:47 am, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

This is bizarre, and quite honesty, above your pay grade. It would most likely be best for you to get your administration involved. Sorry you are experiencing this. Best of luck to you.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Mithrandir on 9/17/2025, 8:08 am, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

Yes pretty much the exact same situation, they had a stadium-naming ceremony at half-time. We didn't perform our show (it was the 1st or 2nd game) and went as a pep/stands band. Wasn't a big deal to me, the students, principal, parents, etc. The only other thing I will add is that the home school did let me know that this was happening well in advance (2 weeks or more).

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by DesertJazz on 9/16/2025, 7:27 pm, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

About 7 or 8 years ago, we had a school try this with us. I sat in the office as our superintendent called their superintendent. She pretty much laid down the law and also pointed out that they would be coming to us the following year, and we would likely reciprocate. In the end, we got them to extend halftime, let us perform, and then they got the homecoming stuff done afterward.

The best thing in all of these circumstances is to get that stuff done BEFORE the game. Unfortunately, we all know how much emotions run Homecoming traditions and such.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by BDSO on 9/16/2025, 6:51 pm, in reply to "Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

Yes, a long time ago. My superintendent, who happened to also be the athletic district chair told them that wasn't going to happen. The school still refused, so UIL had to step in. Long story short, we ended up performing 1st during halftime.

Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime

Posted by Dazed and Confused on 9/17/2025, 12:03 pm, in reply to "Re: Visiting band not allowed to march halftime"

Forgive my ignorance to this question, but is there a UIL reg stating that the bands should be allowed to perform? I am just curious what happened with UIL and how that all too place.

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