Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

Louisville was being thrown out as a possible 2015 location, one that I haven't heard before among the usual contenders.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

Cobo Hall and the Joe Louis Arena? Go Detroit!

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

How about St. Louis for 2015. I know it has had some problems but every venue will have some issues. St. Louis does provide a central location, major airport, and a nice layout for a major First event.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

LA would never build a dome. The weather is far too good for that.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

New Orleans would be really fun...:rolleyes:

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

I think open air Championships in a stadium with a retractable roof would be amazing. Unless it is raining of course.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

The open air stadium would be very difficult since a large amount of lighting, curtains, and other things are rigged to the ceiling of the EJD as it is right now.

I do know Indianapolis' Convention Center has multiple hotels connected to the convention center, but a big issue will arise in the airport not having any independent mass transit to the downtown area like St. Louis or Atlanta.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

According to Wikipedia, its arena only holds 9,100 people. Are you sure he wasn't talking about a regional, or the VRC championships which are already held there?

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

My personal choices:

1) Atlanta: Familiarity, easy to get a direct flight, great public transportation, The Finale event is outside and right next to the venue (Centennial Park), many hotels within walking distance and less expensive ones located on the train lines (MARTA), Atlanta Braves Game, Aquarium, High Museum.

The only question is the fate of the Georgia Dome with their plans for a new retractable roof stadium for the Falcons (IMHO, a big mistake).

2) Indianapolis: I'm a Hoosier (Purdue 1984). A great sports capital, Many hotels attached to the venue, geographically more central. The relative density of teams are within a one-day drive is very high.

The downsides are the connecting flights and the public transportation option.

3) Minneapolis: Lived there for three years in the late 80's. Good public transportation from the airport. Similar to St. Louis for hotel accommodations. The skywalk system is awesome. Much to do. Great arts. The Twin City Twins at Target Field (although they bias away from the early spring games).
FIRST in Minnesota has shown tremendous growth.

The negatives would be connecting flights and the weather.

WILDCARDS:

Detroit: FiM and oh so very close to Canada.

San Diego, LA, Orlando: Why not return to the days of EPCOT and hold it outside. Spend the money you'll save on the dome by paying for awesome canopies over the field in the event it rains.
Six Divisions with 72 teams. (another thread)
Far from the East coast for LA and SD, and from the West for Orlando.
Maybe its time to shift the center of gravity West for a few years. People on the East Coast tend to not be aware of the time zones as people on the West Coast).

Denver: Cool city, but the transport lacks.

Dallas, San Antonio: Good airfares to Dallas, poor logistics. 2018 maybe. Good Center of Gravity.

Toronto: Perfect. Their cities are as well designed as their Robots.
Passports. :ahh:

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

There is no way FIRST will use a hockey or basketball arena for the championships when there is a season (especially the playoffs) going on. Too much revenue lost.
Any city that has a domed football stadium has the inside track as far as I can see so places like Atlanta, Detroit,, Phoenix, New Orleans Dallas, San Antonio, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Houston make the most sense.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

Indianapolis host the annual FFA convention which makes the championship look small. We know how to get people downtown.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

The Georgia Dome is currently scheduled to be demolished following the 2016-17 football season. That means the championship would only be held in Atlanta for 2015,16 and maybe 17 depending on the exact date of demolition. Unless the championship is held entirely within the GWCC (which is possible), that would probably be the end of Atlanta being in the discussion. The new stadium is expected to land a block south of where the Georgia Dome currently sits, possible still connected to the GWCC but further away.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

Although it would be great to have Championships in Detroit (hey I live there), I just do not see a good area to hold it.

Cobo/Joe would have space for pits, but how about the fields? The Joe itself might hold 2 fields, 4 might be pushing it, but no way to have it all going on. Plus as stated above Hockey is going on so would have to coordinate around that.

Ford Field has the dome and plenty of room for seats and fields, but how about the pits? There is nothing close that would be able to hold them, unless they fit them and the fields inside of the dome. Maybe there is some parking lot they can make some temporary area for pits.

Silverdome is opened back up, but again issue with pits.

The Palace probably to small for fields and no room for pits.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

I was hoping especially with how the weather was the one year it was in Houston that they would open up the roof there. After seeing all the wires hanging from the roof, that was not going to happen. Maybe if it was set up right and the right kind of retractable roof maybe, but odds are low.

Re: Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?
 

MN would be a bad choice at the moment. Target Field is outdoors and for those that don't know it snowed here yesterday. I wouldn't want my robot to be covered with snow... They are in the process of tearing down and building a new stadium where the Metrodome is. I think that will be done 2016 so maybe we'll be back in the discussion after that.