In the late fifties and early sixties, there was a growing consensus among drum corps in rejecting the Legion Nationals as a legitimate championship, primarily because for more years than not, the contest was held in a distant city; generally convenient for Legionnaires attending the convention, but not for drum & bugle corps based in the Northeast.

Unfortunately, the drum corps championship was one small event in the overall Legion convention, and most of the top corps, including the Caballeros, often found it difficult to make the considerable expenditure in money and time to attend an event in cities such as Los Angeles, Portland, or New Orleans.

The logistics and costs involved in transporting and housing a large corps over such distances was simply far greater than it was worth, often taking a year or longer to recover from financially.

In addition to the financial burden on corps in general, the Legion rules were based largely on military concepts and styles.

As the war years faded further and further into history and senior corps became increasingly staffed with non-veterans, there was a general feeling that the Legion's rigid competition rules had become outdated and overly restrictive.