Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

Vex has done a number of divisions that isn't a power of 2 for their equivalent of Einstein. I believe they used a round robin format of some sort.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

If you get 6 divisions, it seems to me the only "fair" way to do it would be a round-robin of some kind. Otherwise, you would have to get a bit complicated with your brackets because a bye gives some divisions an inherent "advantage" over the others.

I put "fair" and "advantage" in quotes because it wouldn't be any fault of the teams, and also that even if the bracket did have a bye, it would probably just be a question of semantics as to who were quarterfinalists (losing in the Ro6 vs the Ro4).

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

I really hope they do 8 divisions. I personally think a simple, single elimination bracket makes a lot more sense for Einstein. Round Robin doesn't make each match feel as awesome to me. Plus with a single elimination tournament it's much easier to say you were a Semifinalist or something like that, instead of saying you had such and such a record on Einstein.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

I honestly would be a fan of round-robin just for the novelty factor - that would be a lot of fun matches! I'm worried about the timing, though - 15 matches plus a potential tiebreaker match or matches (we're not going to decide the champion on tiebreakers, are we?) would be a lot. So would 8 divisions, though...

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

I could see them doing round-robin one year and then bumping it up to a full 8-team bracket the next year (due to being more comfortable with the amount of teams/ the inevitable complaining).

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

The system they use also should spread out the pre-registered teams (Chairman's, legacy, and last year's winners, who are all great teams), which explains why we never have a division with 254, 1114, 67, etc together. Since they all registered first, they will be distributed evenly.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

Divisions and the number of teams are changing next year, but I don't think I'm allowed to say anything else about it.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

First has but fields in the pits before...I wouldn't throw away this idea. It is very possible they will have 1-2 competition fields in the pit area.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

And it was awful. Just awful.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

On the crowd, seating, and scouting perspectives, it was really quite awful. It did at least make it very easy for the drive team, robot, pit crew, scouts, and others to get back and forth between the field and the pits! ;-)

I think the bigger slap in the face that annoyed me about the two pit fields in 2011 was the dishonesty from FIRST about it. At the time FIRST was extremely closed about decisions... It was the first year that CMP was in St. Louis and FIRST insisted that the pit fields were necessary because the fields wouldn't all fit in the Edward Jones Dome, not because they had 30-40% of the dome closed off every day for the Black Eyed Peas concert on Friday night. Let's just say that many of us saw through it...

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

I am open to the idea but FIRST has hinted at the fact there will likely be less than 8 fields. More fields means more teams and competition which would be cool.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

After experiencing pit fields in 2011, I would not want to see fields in the pit ever again.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

The concept of pit fields at CMP pre-dated the concept of the concert. The pit fields weren't there because of that.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

It was awful when there were 100 teams in the division. I would be willing to give it another try with fewer teams per division, especially if it allowed a regular 8 alliance playoff on Einstein.

Re: How do divisions work at champs?
 

Has anyone ever elaborated on the "pre-concert" rationale for this decision? I just don't see how it could make sense, especially when it really wasn't hard to fit all the fields in the dome in the years following.