"Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

This article was posted here yesterday (9/6/13):

Did anyone know that Louisville (or Detroit for that matter) was bidding?

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

Not sure what they're playing at. No connected dome. Their biggest room can only seat 5,000 when set up for arena style seating. Seems completely unsuitable.

The Detroit Convention Center is absolutely massive, but they still wouldn't be able to seat enough people for Einstein. The arena the Red Wings play in is attached, but a hockey arena is too small for anything except just Einstein.

Seems pretty clear to me it's going to be Atlanta or St Louis. I hope Atlanta. It's so much easier to get to via air travel, it has nicer hotels, better restaurants, the park for students, etc. The only real knock I see is that once you're out of the midwest it's not driving distance for a lot of teams.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

I agree with Cory...but I must say that it is hard for us from the west to feel sorry for other teams being out of easy driving distance should the event return to Atlanta. ;)

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

I wouldn't count Indianapolis out just yet. After building up the infrastructure to host a Super Bowl that was considered an overwhelming success, and having seen the proposal being put forth during IRI this year, I think they have a shot.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

The Red Wings are getting a new arena, so they could take the hockey part out of Joe Louis, and keep the seats.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

It's still too small for more than just Einstein.

I heard that there was no good way to get from the convention center to Lucas Oil Stadium and that the "meeting space" in LOS wasn't nearly big enough for all the pits. Do you know what the plan is there?

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

I've been hearing rumors of many places being mentioned (many that didn't make any sense) including those ones mentioned. I'd rather just go back to Atlanta. I had no problem with the place at all.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

I'm drawing a blank on their first layout option at moment, but I remember one of the proposals was to actually house all of the FRC pits and fields within the convention center and run fields similar to what was done in 2011 because of the concert. The convention center is massive, I think there was enough room to actually house 6 divisions of FRC teams if the Championship ever needed to grow to that size, or possibly reduce the number of teams per division and just increase the number of divisions. Einstein, FLL fields & pits, & FTC fields & pits would be housed in Lucas Oil Stadium in this setup.

As far as the outdoor area for teams to hang out, there was talk of turning Georgia street into a FIRST village like they did for the Super Bowl Village. In addition to the existing restaurants they could easily bring in tons of food trucks for quick food options.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

While potentially going back to 2011 setup doesn't sound that appealing, having Einstein in its own arena would be a neat!

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

Oh, you mean like we were going back to 2002? (Minus the outdoor parking lot aspect, of course!)

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

I agree with Ryan, we have been only using a small* part of the convention center, there is a LOT more floor space there.

ATL has the huge advantage of a really large airport, and driving distance** to a lot of teams.

*OK, maybe about 1/4 not including the dome
** within 20 hours, YMMV

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

A little birdie told me they figured out a solution.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

I'm in agreement with most here; Atlanta was awesome. We took a coach bus down there from Wisconsin, and it really wasn't that bad of a trip.

St. Louis is alright, but I would really love to go back to Atlanta :D

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

Come on, y'all. Any city can host The Championship Event.



So long as it's Atlanta ;)


Or the FIRST Robotics City, complete with spaceport, hyperloop, and STEAM education programs for all.

Re: "Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article
 

While there is something to be said for having the competition take place in the dome, I actually loved the pit fields in 2011. As a member of my team's drive team that year and someone who always spends a significant amount of time in the pits, I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch matches throughout the weekend rather than feeling restricted by the unavoidable distance between pits and stands.