#MakeitLoud Ideas...

[JohnFogarty]

So, Deans speech..one of most to the point and moving speeches I've heard during my 5 years attending CMP.

The urgency is clearly notable and we as the CD community realize this. So I wanted to start this thread in the CMP section but in general I want this to be a collaborative thread for the ideas we can contribute to making FIRST much much "LOUDER" by teams working together.

Of course the first thing I'm going to say probably can't be done by teams but rather by FIRST itself.
I'm sure this view has been expressed a lot in the championship suggestions thread but my family and team agree that this is a very important issue that needs to be addressed.

First off, I like that NASA streams and puts our event on NASATV.

Now here comes my argument.....

How many average citizens have a subscription to NASATV that they can get with their current package or get for free in addition to their current TV package.

I took a poll from people living near me, and the numbers came back just as I thought. 1/60 people in my area in SC have NASATV as a part of their cable/satellite package. Now while I know that the streaming is an option for anyone with an Internet connection..here's my thought that has been shared among many whom I've spoken to.

WE NEED ESPN BACK. I don't even necessarily think it has to be ESPN, it could be CBS, FOX, ABC...whomever. There needs to be at least one day of sports style coverage of the championship event...even if it's only finals day. This would be a great step towards getting FIRST out there......

The televised event gave FIRST some momentum...but I think we've made a step in the wrong direction by letting that momentum die out...

[Alex2614]

I agree. FIRST (especially champs) needs to be more accessible and visible to the general public. The thing with NASATV is, that even if everybody has it, how much of the general public actually pays attention to what is on NASATV? I think what's going to help is having people from the mainstream entertainment industry (Will.I.Am, for example) involved and mainstream media (CNN, Fox, ABC, etc) involved as well.

[Billfred]

Add me to the can't-get-NASA-TV crowd (I have the otherwise entirely good AT&T U-Verse U200 package; NASA TV requires U300.) That said, I got four or five channels of concurrent Masters coverage a few weeks ago; each channel followed a pairing.

We now have Time Warner Cable and Comcast on board as a Strategic Partner and Championship Sponsor, respectively; they are #1 and #2 in the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cable_television_companies#Top_Five). There is no major sporting event going against Championship; why aren't we pursuing those channels? Why aren't we manning cameras during finals of regionals and districts, stitching them into one-hour chunks, and getting it out there on demand and on YouTube?

If The RoboShow (http://www.theroboshow.net) can cover Orlando so thoroughly, I have to think a smaller, not-live version can be made to spread.

Warm up the machine, build the following, THEN go after the heavy hitters.

[JohnSchneider]

Fox is starting a new channel in August called FoxSports1 which is supposed to be a competitor to ESPN. Because ESPN already has contracts with most major sports, foxsports1 is having to pick up less televised stuff. Maybe FIRST could contact FOX and see if they'd be interested in broadcasting champs next year? I'm sure they'll be eager for programming their first year especially since ABC has NBA rights at the same time as champs

[StAxis]

The biggest problem is formatting. there will be over 3,000 FIRST teams next year, assume the average team plays 20 matches in a season, that's 120,000 minutes or 2,000 hours of material. Not only that though, you have other things, designs, strategies, and more that you need people to be interested in.

Of course, finals are easy to cover, elimination matches are about as long as a normal sports match, an d with time in between matches you can cover backstories and other things that draw people in.

Don't get me wrong, my ultimate goal is to get FIRST back on television, but we don't have the infrastructure yet, we need to be more ready to get it there.

There needs to be a way to get everything on demand for people who don't know FIRST. We need some sort of comprehensive competition base (think websites for the NFL, NBA, or NHL) full of information. This is much easier done for those sports for 3 reasons.
1. Only about 30 teams, 100th of what FIRST has
2. Every human body is basically the same, there's no need to explain why you chose your arm or any aspect of design
3. The game doesn't change every year

So how do we make it happen? We need ideas. That's what I've been working on for the last month or so and will continue to work on until we've made it loud.

[Woolly]

While it's absolutely necessary to get Champs on a network like Fox Sports, ESPN, or Discovery, but maybe we could get Google to have FIRST TV as a network that's a part of the Google Fiber subscription.
Broadcast all the practice and Friday quals on FIRST TV and then have the big-time network pick it up on Saturday morning.
I mean, to an outsider, our practice and quals are about as meaningful and exciting as practice and quals for the weekly NASCAR race.

[Grim Tuesday]

Why not get Google to sponsor the webcast and post a link to it on the front page on the Saturday of Championship with the logo changed for the day. That would be one way to get the word out to millions and millions.

That said, I remember the 2011 Einstein was awful because it was crippled with requirements for TV shows and the like (no music etc...). If FIRST wants to make it loud for the world, they need to make it just as fun for the participants.

[PayneTrain]

Talking about television coverage can be fun. However, as members of FIRST teams, we are all acting as agents pf the organization as well as the teams we represent.

I think a big issue in FIRST is that the competition is not an inherently accessible thing to attend. Like Dean said, we have forgotten to invite everyone. With a few exceptions, the most accessible part of FIRST, the FRC's events, are held in environments that are contained by regional organizations under the advising of HQ. Sometimes it feels like the competitions too frequently run in parallel to what is happening in the event's city. In Richmond, we shut down entire parts of the city for road races, the circus, summer concerts, and other events, but it is hard to get people to take item out of their day to go see an event like this without any personal stake in it or any guarantee or security of an expected value of entertainment. You can go do demonstrations in your community, and be in parades, and start FLL teams until the cows come home, but how are we getting people to show up?

I haven't seen heavy discussion on this, but when Dean talked about making FIRST loud, he talked about how he and HQ are going to implement a system where teams can submit a 2 minute video showcasing a compelling story about themselves. This is great! I loved this so much! I don't know how many sports fans we have in the CD crowd, but I love sports. Sure, I have my favorite teams and favorite sports, but what makes me watch them is to see documentaries like ESPN's 30 for 30 series and all the great pieces put together by NFL films and going to see the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame... it's not just "not about the robot" for FIRST, it's how the sport isn't the result on the field, but the people and the stories that come from them.

I finally got some friends from a school without a team at any level to come to a competition in my senior year of high school and they loved it, but we don't talk about how the team does. We talk about the stories. We ended up watching i.am.FIRST and the Education in America special. Those are the stories FIRST needs.

We can assemble all of these pieces together as teams, as regional boards, etc, take them to a production company, and sell the idea of broadcasting the world's best kept secret once again.

The movement is going to be hard. Starting FLL teams? Demonstrating the robot? That's important, but it's going to look like child's play in comparison to how you can breach the wall of pop culture with an initiative like this.

[Carl C]

I'm working on something pretty cool, but I have to keep it under wraps for now... ;)

[protoserge]

While it's absolutely necessary to get Champs on a network like Fox Sports, ESPN, or Discovery, but maybe we could get Google to have FIRST TV as a network that's a part of the Google Fiber subscription.
Broadcast all the practice and Friday quals on FIRST TV and then have the big-time network pick it up on Saturday morning.
I mean, to an outsider, our practice and quals are about as meaningful and exciting as practice and quals for the weekly NASCAR race.

Great idea! CMP could be hosted live on YouTube. Imagine the exposure to millions of YouTubers with the "Watch it Live: FIRST Robotics Championship Event" banner on the top of the home page...

[PVCpirate]

Remember that broadcast of MSC from Detroit Public TV? That's what we would want to see from an ESPN or Discovery Channel or ABC or anyone else. So FIRST HQ and teams and volunteers, let's take that broadcast(I believe some version of it is posted online) and show it to people. Show ESPN, show Google, show your local access TV station, and say this is how you can do it. Tell them about the great stories that come out of FIRST and the exciting matches and frantic races to fix the robot on time.

Most people think robots are cool. If I knew nothing about FRC and was just flipping channels last Saturday night and I saw robots shooting frisbees and climbing pyramids, you'd have me. I would turn up the volume, call over anyone else in the house and say "Check this out! High school kids built these robots and they're competing for the world championship." And I think a lot of others would do the same.

[ehochstein]

A question we need to ask ourselves is how to we sell FIRST to the big networks? What is going to get them high amounts of viewers? If we were on ESPN again how many viewers would tune in to see the event?

As Dean and Woodie stated there are now over a million members in our organization, how do we tell the networks we'll get more views then the shows already playing?

Here is some data on number of viewers for Friday and Saturday this past weekend:
Friday (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/04/29/friday-final-tv-ratings-happy-endings-shark-tank-blue-bloods-adjusted-down/179868/)

Saturday (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/04/28/tv-ratings-saturday-nascar-races-to-victory-smash-flat-bet-on-your-baby-down/179804/)

Those numbers are for prime time shows past 8pm but they are consistently above 1 million viewers.

Just some food for thought.
Evan

[cgmv123]

That said, I remember the 2011 Einstein was awful because it was crippled with requirements for TV shows and the like (no music etc...). If FIRST wants to make it loud for the world, they need to make it just as fun for the participants.

Broadcast TV doesn't have music requirements, just like radio stations don't.

[JohnFogarty]

I'd like to just bounce off Billfred's post by saying FRC robots are definitely more exciting than watching the Masters.

...and the Masters is shown on every major sports network around the entire world.

[cgmv123]

A question we need to ask ourselves is how to we sell FIRST to the big networks? What is going to get them high amounts of viewers? If we were on ESPN again how many viewers would tune in to see the event?

We'd be selling profits, not viewers. Since FIRST events are free to specators, we can't charge a TV network for the rights to broadcast. Since they're getting the broadcast for free (minus production costs**), they get to keep all the commercial revenue* (minus production costs**).

Also see http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1261833&postcount=36 for some of my other thoughts on this subject.

*Unless, of course, they choose to donate some of it to FIRST.

**Simulcasting the FMS feed with the house announcers shouldn't happen. The network should produce their own feed with separate announcers.

[tkell274]

Like everyone else I am totally on board with the idea that we need to be shown on a larger scale by a big network. Comcast has a partnership with NBC so maybe something could happen there. I would love to see all the district championships broadcast on a big site like Youtube. If we could get someone like NBC to broadcast all of the last day or even just the four division championships and Einstein I think we would be able to really get out there. Another big thing would just to get all of the sponsors to put something up on their websites to direct more traffic to the finals.

Another thing I think they we really did to do is get more celebrities like Will.I.Am to spread the message of FIRST. I remember in 2011 they had a whole big thing where they had a ton of celebrities make little videos saying how awesome they thought FRC was. If we could get more famous people to go out and spread the word then I think we could really grow and one day members of FIRST will become the new celebrities.

[JohnFogarty]

Things to note already from this thread...

The YouTube idea....I really like that. If the bored "masses" got on YouTube one day and saw huge banners and a feed from a FIRST Championship event...chances are people would begin to realize who we are.

Secondly....I'll share my vision of what a Championship television show should be like...

Start out the cast with a familiar sports cast personality or a voice that america is familiar with. Have them explain and show the game animation."
Then the fun begins with a rotating back and forth between a few qualification matches in each division and some team interviews in the pits.
You could even start the program with a breakdown of the entire FIRST family of programs current year breakdown...but I think the televised event should primarily focus on FRC because it is the...."flagship program"

Keep in mind I'm sayying that logistically....I actually favor FTC...so I hope I'm not offending anyone.



The primary focus of the show will end up being on the divisional elims and Einstein. With "in the que" short interviews during field resets.


simple enough format....and I think having some FIRST alum who've created projects like this already need to take a major part in this...Mike&Justin...TheRoboShow...etc..

[Jeffy]

Not my idea, but I heard it bounced around in TRA chat room during Einstein and thought it had merit. So here you go...

Break a world record, or many.

The two I heard suggested were:
Longest conga line
Most self-proclaimed nerds under one roof

[dcarr]

Not my idea, but I heard it bounced around in TRA chat room during Einstein and thought it had merit. So here you go...

Break a world record, or many.

The two I heard suggested were:
Longest conga line
Most self-proclaimed nerds under one roof

I hate that word...FIRST is about breaking stereotypes, not endorsing them.
Conga line sounds like a good one.

[JohnFogarty]

Actually. I believe you've that wrong.
The entire mission of first is take those "nerds" and place them in the celebrated and distinguished category in which they belong. To all cultures and to all people.

[dcarr]

Actually. I believe you've that wrong.
The entire mission of first is take those "nerds" and place them in the celebrated and distinguished category in which they belong. To all cultures and to all people.

Right, thereby destroying the stereotypes that relegate such individuals to places where they are not distinguished and celebrated :)

[bduddy]

We'd be selling profits, not viewers. Since FIRST events are free to specators, we can't charge a TV network for the rights to broadcast. Since they're getting the broadcast for free (minus production costs**), they get to keep all the commercial revenue* (minus production costs**).

Also see http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1261833&postcount=36 for some of my other thoughts on this subject.

*Unless, of course, they choose to donate some of it to FIRST.

**Simulcasting the FMS feed with the house announcers shouldn't happen. The network should produce their own feed with separate announcers.Just because spectators are allowed in for free doesn't mean that FIRST loses their broadcast rights, i.e. their rights to charge money to broadcast the event and bar everyone else from doing so that hasn't paid up. That being said, I don't see anyone paying FIRST money to show championships any time soon. In fact, it could possibly be a worthwhile investment for FIRST to buy time... has anyone ever considered that?

[PayneTrain]

Just because spectators are allowed in for free doesn't mean that FIRST loses their broadcast rights, i.e. their rights to charge money to broadcast the event and bar everyone else from doing so that hasn't paid up. That being said, I don't see anyone paying FIRST money to show championships any time soon. In fact, it could possibly be a worthwhile investment for FIRST to buy time... has anyone ever considered that?

will.i.am bought an hour of ABC primetime with a couple of FIRST sponsors to promote the sport 2 years ago.

[Calvin Hartley]

Remember that broadcast of MSC from Detroit Public TV? That's what we would want to see from an ESPN or Discovery Channel or ABC or anyone else. So FIRST HQ and teams and volunteers, let's take that broadcast(I believe some version of it is posted online) and show it to people.

Here is a link to the broadcast: http://www.dptv.org/programs/robotics/index.shtml?cmpgn=shorturl

I think they did an excellent job, without impeding on the event. If we could get somebody to do this at Championship, that would be awesome.

[IKE]

A couple of points on broadcasting FRC:
FRC is really really hard to shoot and produce compared to most sports. In general, most sport videoing uses the follow the ball method which is way easier when their is 1 ball. Having helped with the MSC broadcast, it is really difficult to follow all the important action in a match, and even to know what is important at that moment. I thought the crew did an outstanding job this year at MSC, but re-watching the finals, there is still a ton of room for improvement. One of the more difficult issues is that some of the neatest tricks are the "wild-cards" pulled by some of the best teams. 469 and their FCS was something they only brought out when needed. Same with their 5 Disc centerline auto. Blocking 67 from attempting the climb wasn't attempted mcuh in qualifying, but was a key focus during elims. Pool noodle blockers were only special occasions during qualifying, but became key decisive elements in elims...
Overall, I think that live filming of FRC is more akin to filming auto-racing. More appropriately more like a mixed series auto-race like Le Mans where true fans understand the different classes that are simultaneously racing, and the i8mportance, but to the casual observer, you don't understand why they are showing the "race leader" of a GT class getting passed by LMP1 & LMP2 cars... We will keep working on this. I actually think I will watch a lot more short course racing to see what tricks they use tohelp with this sort of stuff (think tough truck, or moto-cross).
Lastly, this may be a bit hard for some of us to hear, but most FRC matches are not of the quality to have broadcast appeal. Often in the past the game itself did not have the appeal. Going back to the racing analogy, only a driver in 24 hours of Lemons is going to watch race footage from a Lemons race (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_LeMons). Whereas 24 Hours of Le Mans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Le_Mans) has a much larger appeal because of heritage and the quality of professional racing.
Realistically, qualifying is a lot like watch Indycar qualifying. The hardcore fans are interested inthe time trials, but most folks would only watch the race. I think doing a higher production quality broadcast of Elims should be a goal for regionals and Regional Champsionships.

All this being said, there was a huge bump in quality across the board this year, and the game was really interesting even to non-FIRST people. The last few games ahve been pretty easy for outsiders to understand, and this is important to mass appeal. I was really impressed with the variety and quality of this years teams. I thanked Frank and the GDC for making such a great game. I hope that all of the enablers that made this one so much better for median teams continue next year. This game was very enjoyable at 1st event venues, and was awesome at 2nd event venues. By 3rd event venues, the play was through the roof, and even qualifying was incredibly exciting.

[Patrick Flynn]

Here is a link to the broadcast: http://www.dptv.org/programs/robotics/index.shtml?cmpgn=shorturl

I think they did an excellent job, without impeding on the event. If we could get somebody to do this at Championship, that would be awesome.

I think what we need to do, is not aim for ESPN off the bat. We need to improve our current webcasts. What made this MSC broadcast so awesome? Yes the HD helped but i will argue that it was the commentary between matches. This really helped to keep the viewer involved, the replays the talking about strategy all of that.

So what can we do? During some webcasts next year get some experienced people to do commentary. This can be anyone from a first year student that is good at explaining the game, or a 15 year vet that knows the teams inside and out. Have them talk between matches. And put on a good show. This will make us appear even more TV worthy, and helps increase our appear to a network like ESPN

[JohnFogarty]

I guess what I'm going to do personally is I'm going to start up a commentary similar to the Roboshow for the Palmetto Regional for next season pending the Palmetto Partners approval.

[Spider-Man]

One way that FIRST can help uninitiated audiences is to put markers on the scoring elements, showing what things are worth. For example, a lighted 3 above the center goal this year, that shows a 6 during autonomous. The same could be said for last year's goals as well. I remember that the balls used in 2004 had labels on them showing how much they were worth. Some of this can be done for the in-arena screens or webcast with an simple on-screen overlay to explain the scoring before matches, but having the camera pick up how much something is worth makes it that much easier.

[protoserge]

I guess what I'm going to do personally is I'm going to start up a commentary similar to the Roboshow for the Palmetto Regional for next season pending the Palmetto Partners approval.

I'm going to volunteer 836's help if Palmetto is on our destination list for next year (and I sure hope so - the MBCC was my favorite Regional venue ever). Any word if it's returning to Myrtle Beach?

Any plans for a post-match play-by-play analysis with the hand-drawn overlays commonly used in NFL and the likes?

[JohnFogarty]

I'm planning on joining the Regional Planning committee, If allowed you will all hear an update on palmetto in the Regional Competitions thread soon. Palmetto is transforming to becoming the best regional with best venue yet being at the MBCC. Hopefully we can keep it there.

[MisterG]

I know this thread is more about bring me solutions than bring me problems but I was talking about #makeitloud with some friends. The question of where we are going to put a large amount of spectators came up.

I think this is a very real issue that will need to be dealt with. Many or most robotics competition that I have attended at any level have had overflow crowds that are made of students, mentors and parents.

Can this be solved? Sure. Is it a challenge? A pretty big one I would say.

[JohnFogarty]

You make a good point.... The stands were almost completely full with just teams at Palmetto whenever everyone was required to be in them for Opening Ceremonies.

[PayneTrain]

I know this thread is more about bring me solutions than bring me problems but I was talking about #makeitloud with some friends. The question of where we are going to put a large amount of spectators came up.

I think this is a very real issue that will need to be dealt with. Many or most robotics competition that I have attended at any level have had overflow crowds that are made of students, mentors and parents.

Can this be solved? Sure. Is it a challenge? A pretty big one I would say.

It also doesn't help when teams feel entitled to guard blocks of seats with various objects or scowling parents. I would say that probably doesn't give a good impression for people outside of our little world.

[James1902]

How many average citizens have a subscription to NASATV that they can get with their current package or get for free in addition to their current TV package.

I took a poll from people living near me, and the numbers came back just as I thought. 1/60 people in my area in SC have NASATV as a part of their cable/satellite package. Now while I know that the streaming is an option for anyone with an Internet connection..here's my thought that has been shared among many whom I've spoken to.

WE NEED ESPN BACK. I don't even necessarily think it has to be ESPN, it could be CBS, FOX, ABC...whomever. There needs to be at least one day of sports style coverage of the championship event...even if it's only finals day. This would be a great step towards getting FIRST out there......


I would argue that even more people have access to an internet connection then ESPN. Plus it's easier to share the broadcast if you only have to click one button to tell all of your Facebook friends and Twitter followers about it.
Add in that anyone can watch it on their own schedule and it becomes more of a video to pass around and discuss and can then lead the viewer to more information on FIRST itself. All through the same platform.

YouTube is reaching a point where the content is longer form, better produced, and easier to access then some television shows. There are now professional production channels producing amazing content exclusively for YouTube. I think this is where entertainment as a whole is headed and I don't see why FIRST shouldn't be the first sport to be covered via YouTube.

To borrow a hockey quote: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”
Television is where the puck is, I think the internet is where the puck is going to be, and FIRST should be right there with it.

[Ivan Malik]

What about Hulu? They are probably itching to get into the sports genre...

[ebeattie]

I have always though that we should find a way to contact the writers/producers of shows like CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" or FOX's "Glee" and have them incorporate FIRST into an episode. When Dean presented the Make it Loud award to Will, all I was thinking about is that we have to do this! There are upsides to having this on either one of these shows. BBT is watched by millions of "geeks" just like ourselves who would probably be completely dazzled by the idea of FIRST if they had no prior knowledge about it. With Glee, it takes place in a high school so it would be a perfect outlet to get FRC out there. I am by no means creative like the writers of these shows but if people are just watching their weekly shows and FIRST comes up, they are more likely to watch it rather than a documentary type show on it. It would be a great way to reach out to millions of people and they would still be enjoying what it is that they enjoy about these shows. I have not looked too deeply on FOX's site but CBS is not making it easy to contact anyone. Plus if BBT were to win the Make it Loud Award, a visit from the cast at champs would be AWESOME! ;)

[JohnFogarty]

Bonus points to you.
Now that's what I call creative thinking.

[drew.spillers]

I have always though that we should find a way to contact the writers/producers of shows like CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" or FOX's "Glee" and have them incorporate FIRST into an episode. When Dean presented the Make it Loud award to Will, all I was thinking about is that we have to do this! There are upsides to having this on either one of these shows. BBT is watched by millions of "geeks" just like ourselves who would probably be completely dazzled by the idea of FIRST if they had no prior knowledge about it. With Glee, it takes place in a high school so it would be a perfect outlet to get FRC out there. I am by no means creative like the writers of these shows but if people are just watching their weekly shows and FIRST comes up, they are more likely to watch it rather than a documentary type show on it. It would be a great way to reach out to millions of people and they would still be enjoying what it is that they enjoy about these shows. I have not looked too deeply on FOX's site but CBS is not making it easy to contact anyone. Plus if BBT were to win the Make it Loud Award, a visit from the cast at champs would be AWESOME! ;)

I filled out and submitted a feedback form for CBS about this, We should all do this, and hopefully it will happen! it would be so Awesome if it happened!

[That 281 Guy]

I guess what I'm going to do personally is I'm going to start up a commentary similar to the Roboshow for the Palmetto Regional for next season pending the Palmetto Partners approval.

This sounds like an amazing idea, and if if needed I would love to help in any way I can. In about a month I will be an alumni of Team 281. I have been doing filmmaking all throughout high school and in August I will be going to college to study Broadcast Media. And if you need help with commentary I know virtually all the Palmetto teams inside and out, seeing as I was a student at the last four Palmetto Regionals.

I'm working on something pretty cool, but I have to keep it under wraps for now...

This has me excited... Every video that has come from the Hitchhikers has been amazing. This video is a perfect example of how FIRST event should be covered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zXQmeuUIeQg

While robot-mounted cameras are probably is not feasible for live broadcasting, this video's use of split screens is effective, the small scoreboard doesn't take up too much space, and the audio from the drivers makes you feel in the moment. I'd love to see a similar model applied to live broadcasts in the future.

The VERY LEAST we can do for competition coverage is use HD cameras!!! The live feeds of some regionals were simply painful to look at due to horrible quality.

[JohnFogarty]

I think that the three of us, considering my bet is were all going to be attending Palmetto. Should collaborate on creating a show. (Are we all going to be attending SCRIW III?) I know I will be there because since I'm transferring campuses within the USC system I'm going to be working with 2815 for the next few seasons. Maybe we could even do a rough demo cast for SCRIW. Anyone interested?

I also just got a PM from James sayying that they'd be open to discussing ways to make the shows better on both fronts. Here and in Orlando.

I'm really excited about the direction this is going.

Does anyone know any ways we can approach Google/YouTube about covering FIRST events?

[Dominick Ferone]

Fox is starting a new channel in August called FoxSports1 which is supposed to be a competitor to ESPN. Because ESPN already has contracts with most major sports, foxsports1 is having to pick up less televised stuff. Maybe FIRST could contact FOX and see if they'd be interested in broadcasting champs next year? I'm sure they'll be eager for programming their first year especially since ABC has NBA rights at the same time as champs


Actually back in the early 2000's ESPN used to televise FIRST matches

[That 281 Guy]

I think that the three of us, considering my bet is were all going to be attending Palmetto. Should collaborate on creating a show. (Are we all going to be attending SCRIW III?) I know I will be there because since I'm transferring campuses within the USC system I'm going to be working with 2815 for the next few seasons. Maybe we could even do a rough demo cast for SCRIW. Anyone interested?


I was actually already planning on volunteering at SCRIW, so that would be great! What kind of format are we thinking of for this show? Match footage and commentary? Interviews with teams? Is it going to be live, or uploaded on the internet? What kind of equipment will we need? We need to start thinking about these things. And doing a demo run durring SCRIW would be great in preperation for Palmetto.