I can't believe FIRST is thinking about having a regional in Cleveland. Why not have it in Indiana, where there seem to be more teams? Wait..there are like four teams in Columbus, OH. Never mind..

~Angela who should know Ohio geography b/c she has a million relatives up there..

Very True
 

Why doesn't FIRST think about having a Regional in Indiana? I think next year we will have at least 15 teams in the state. There are pleanty of places to hold it: RCA Dome, Conseco Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse... etc. You could even hold a regional at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I bet Tony George would go for it. And I know that we have plenty of colleges that could sponsor it. Possibly Purdue, Rose-Hulman, IUPUI, IU...etc. Maybe us Indiana teams should start lobbying FIRST for a possible regional in the future.

I would guess the main reason FIRST hasn't thought about having a regional in Indiana is because no one has stepped forward to purpose one. Regionals first of all require a sponsor or sponsors. And these are big money donors (I don't remember the cost of running a regional but I believe it gets above a million dollars -- someone correct me if I'm wrong). Also, getting the space to use can also be hard as well as expensive. Stadiums don't come cheap. There also comes the issue of people to organize the regional and run it. And they also need to know they'll have a large enough base of teams to support the regional and not take away from other regionals.

Matt who for some odd reason knows too much about starting a regional......

I'm not entirely sure on this...but I think the number for the West Michigan Regional was about $250,000, at least as far as the local committee had to come up with...of course, as Matt points out, that all depends on how much it costs for the site...

Nate

Maybe....
 

Maybe FIRST doesn't have a regional in Indiana because there is not enough support there to have it. However, back to my post from earlier I mentioned that I heard about a Regional being held in Manchester NH. Why is it not feasible to have it there? Oh because Matt says that FIRST has expressed no interest in returning to Manchester. Well, I definitely do believe they need to express interest in a Northeast Regional and no UTC doesn't count. That's why I believe a new Regional will happen in either Boston, the center of the Northeast, Worcester, or Manchester. Time will only TELL... SORRY MY CAPS JUST STARTED TO KICK IN AGAIN.:mad:

go boston...center of the northeast!!!

mike whos a proud bostonian, goes to school in dochestah and would pahk his cah in hahvahd yahd if he had a cah to pahk (which he doesnt cuz hes a retahd)

ps: mike thinks boston is wicked pissah

Re: Maybe....
 

Hey, I think you got me wrong there. I didn't say it wouldn't happen. I didn't say FIRST didn't want it to happen. I just said that the only people that I've heard interested in a regional are not from FIRST. They are only on teams from the area. Will there be a new regional in the northeast? Maybe. This i sjust from some of my own seemingly random observations and I appreciate corrections if any are needed, but I believe that New England and New Hampshire in particular are not large growth areas for FIRST. FIRST is going to expand regionals where there's growth because that means there's need for more regionals there. When the number of teams remains mostly constant (and that's mostly what I've seen in the New England area -- witness the small number of rookies at the New England regional), there will not be expanded regionals. Also, I believe that New Hampshire in particular seems to be loosing teams as opposed to gaining them. Now I may be totally off base with that but that is just the appearance I've gotten. Please correct me if I'm wrong. And please don't take me as saying I don't want a regional in Manchester or in New England. I'm just trying to show what I think will happen.

Matt

Well, something has to be done about New England
 

...you were there with the fiasco this year with the outdoor tents. The Meadows just cant hold any more teams...snow & robots (except at Kickoff) just dont mix...i remember looking to our right in the pit and seeing half of 236's pit washed out and the pit to their right totally flooded....

The Meadows was a great venue in 2000....and that had to do alot with the weather...it wasnt raining or anything, and it was on the warmish side. Plus, there were no outside pits. Outside pits are doable in the south or in the west, but not in New England and not when the regional is that early in the season.

Dont get me wrong, I still like having the regional earlier....but something needs to be tweaked.

That's why I didn't go into the tent that much. ;) And I agree with you that something has to be done. The Meadows isn't really set up that well for a Robotics competition in my opinion. But I also highly doubt that the Regional will ever leave Hartford. Well, not until UTC decides to stop sponsoring it, by any rate. So that leaves the option of finding a new venue in Hartford or nearby (note, by nearby, it must be very nearby -- UTC fits a good deal of the bill for it and wants the associated publicity). I don't know what's there so I can't give any good ideas. My gut feeling is it won't move any time soon. In that case some of the New England teams might need to think about traveling a bit farther for your regionals like some of us have to do. ;)

Matt who tries not to worry about such things as that because it's FIRST's problem, not his but isn't very good at not thinking about it anyway....

Yeah, yeah, I'm posting twice in a row but I have another comment to make.....

Snow and robots go together just fine. I'm trying to think of a day this season where I did robot stuff and there wasn't snow. I'm just not thinking of any. ;) Including the 10 hour drive to New Hampshire. *grumble* There's a reason why Rochester city has 3 teams and Monroe County has 5..... :-D (hoping for more next year...)

Matt

Ok here is my case for a brand new regional in New England.
1) UTC Regional is way out of hand.
2) The nearest venue that is closest is either NJ, NY, or Phily some in which have similiar or other problems of their own. Example, NJ is just too small. As many people know who have gone there this year and the year before
3) Wouldn't it make sense to have a Regional where you first started and where a good percentage of your FIRST teams are
lets see if we hold a regional in lets say either Worcester or Boston then the enter Northeast would come with other teams from New York and possibly Pennsylvania.
Now doesn't that just make sense??
Also as Jessica mentioned push back any northern regional to mid-late March due to the wonderful New England weather.

:D

Let me respond to those comments because I can. ;)
1) I agree that the New England Regional has too many teams attending.
2)The nearest venue is NYC and then probably Long Island. Neither which (as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong) have had any problems with overcrowding.
3)If there's a regional in Worcester or Boston I sincerely doubt any teams from NY or PA would go. As far as NY is concerned, most of the teams are from either NYC or Long Island, which is why there are regionals in both those locations. Second of all, for NY, the remaining teams (and there aren't too many) are Upstate and considerably Upstate at that (we're about equidistant from NYC, NJ, Philly, and CT -- we go to NJ). PA has too many attractive regionals to add another and get people to go.
3)I believe FIRST started in neither Boston or Worcester. ;) But unless you refer to Manchester, that doesn't really support that claim. And while Manchester may sound like an attractive idea, I don't think it has the best location (you'd only have people coming from the south -- there's nothing north or east of Manchester and not too much west) but that's just my opinion.

I think something has to be done about the New England Regional but I'm not sure if there are enough teams to support a whole other regional. We will wait and see what FIRST decides.

Matt

About the weather.....
 

"If you dont like weather in Connecticut, wait 15 minutes and it will change" -Mark Twain (a Hartford, CT resident)

Well, FIRST was very nice to us for changing the UTC regional from where it was in 2000 (week before Nats) to an earlier date (first regional after shipping) due to a lot of reasons, such as shipping, people getting sick, and troubles with missing school.

Personally, it would be great if we could stick it somewhere in the middle....maybe so we have 2 weeks btw it & nats.

im not sure that would help much...in march there can be a foot and a half of snow on the ground or it can be 95 degrees out...no matter when you plan it, its a coin toss as to wether the weather will be oppressively cold or oppressively hot...

To make myself clearer
 

To make myself clearer...
1) Yes, I was referring to Manchester and I don't truly understand why Matt you are having such a hard time trying to grasp this concept. If you were to name the three places in New England where you might hold a Regional you would either hold it in Boston, or Manchester. Now because FIRST has a lot of support in Worcester; it is also a consideration. Now I know the statement that you made saying that nobody from NY or Pennsylvania would come is false. I know people who travel from New York and Pennsylvania who travel for tournaments all the time in another hobby that I am involved in. The reason why they come is not due to the fact that there isn't a competition in New York or Pennsylvania, but because of competition, and with all of the veteran teams originating in this area I think this could become the superstar Regional they could become a preview of the finals in Florida.
2) Second your claim about nothing being north or east of Manchester who needs teams from the north or east. You have roughly thirty teams from either MA, RI, or CT. Then you add in the teams from NH, VT, and ME and you have a good-sized regional in the late thirties to the forties in # of teams.
Anyways just thought you would like to be corrected, however you are right that Manchester is not the right place the right place would be :D Boston:D
Todd who is right now dreaming!!