IRVINE : A Battle of the Bands at Irvine Stadium

The Irvine Unified School District is hosting its first invitational field tournament from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. today at Irvine Stadium with marching bands, color guards and drill teams from 18 Orange County high schools.

The tournament is co-sponsored by Irvine and Woodbridge high schools. Music directors there hope to make it an annual event to help offset the impending loss of money from bingo games.

A federal law, which goes into effect Dec. 26, will prohibit smoking in public school buildings. Music boosters say the law will effectively end the lucrative twice-weekly bingo games in Irvine that have earned $60,000 a year for high school instrumental music programs. Most Irvine bingo players surveyed said they would not attend games where smoking is prohibited.

“It looks like there won’t be any bingo, so we’re hoping this tournament can take the place of that,” said Joslynne Blasdel, director of instrumental music at Woodbridge High School, which purchased three $4,000 sousaphones this year. Booster groups raise most of money for the high school’s $30,000-a-year instrumental music program.

The two high schools are hoping to raise $8,000 from the tournament, while established tournaments generate as much as $17,000, according to Woodbridge High music booster Paul Harvey, who is chairing the event with Terri Mitchell, president of the Irvine High music boosters.

At the tournament, the bands will present their football half-time shows, according to Bob Avzaradel, director of instrumental music at Irvine High School.

“When I was in school, you’d march around in a spot to the theme from ‘The Love Boat,’ ” he said. “These kids work on a pretty high-tech performance.”