Originally Posted by jman4747 (Post 1468910)

This is not that bad. I don't think north or south will be "easy" to win due to not playing "half" the world. Districts would feel a bit better but we realy don't loose anything when you think about it. It's ambiguously unsettling because it's new and I like the alternative more. And yea it's more of a bummer when your shop is 5min from the former worlds location and the south championship is now 10hrs away. Thats all there is to it.

If you quit because of this you missed the point and maybe you shouldn't have joined up in the first place? Sponsors and aren't pulling out. Apparently FIRSTs sponsors are very on board or they couldn't afford two championships! Mentors share knowledge and show kids what engineering is realy like. If you are a mentor would you realy abandon your current and future students because you can't be the undisputed champ?

Why we are here now and why you shouldn't quit after 2016 is the same reason you do FRC and not just VRC/FTC in spite of the cost. The big robots are still realy cool and the amout of technical knowlage that can be attained is unrivaled for a high school program. Couple that with more sportsmanship and as much teamwork as any other sport and you have the best thing I've ever seen. Watchability is a fuction of team performance and that will go up naturally as more teams spring up and the field gets denser in the north and south.

I'd rather see districts but whatever. Now put it back in Atlanta!:p

Originally Posted by Fielding S. (Post 1468911)

So FIRST's mission is to inspire as many young people to pursue STEM-related activities and careers as possible, right?

According to Dan Bossi in his announcement video, FIRST is different from other sports in that FIRST is more a celebration of every team's achievements and efforts. I remember somebody posting (I'm not going to even attempt to find the post) that because of more winners being crowned, CMP is becoming more like a science fair and less like a, well, competition/championship.

To me, this sounds like FIRST is trying to make FRC less of an actual sport. FIRST's desire to inspire as many people as possible is very understandable, but they're going about this the absolute wrong way.

It doesn't take a genius to know that major sporting events are much more popular than science fairs and conventions. How many kids dream of becoming a professional athlete someday? In contrast, how many kids dream of becoming a scientist that wins best-in-show someday?

In order to accomplish FIRST's main goal, robotics programs must become more like sports. Sports are universally popular, inspiring, and captivating. Yes, this means having one all-encompassing championship event and giving the title of "World Champion" to the best in the world. Why is this contrary to the mission of FIRST? It seems to have worked out for many sports programs.

Originally Posted by Madison (Post 1468297)

For the sake of informing the discussion, the circles on this map represent a 750 mile radius drawn from each of the three cities. It's pretty clear that these areas encompass a majority of current FRC teams.

I chose 750 miles because that's the furthest I've ever driven without wanting to die. It's about a 12 hour drive.

Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb) (Post 1468914)

When most people say they are quitting, I don't think they mean quitting their robotics teams. I think they mean that they won't compete with their teams in FIRST anymore and instead compete in another competition such as VRC. There isn't anything wrong with that either. No one is obligated to stick to FIRST since it's not the only competition around that promotes STEM and they shouldn't be scrutinized just because they do switch. I'm pretty sure these mentors do get FIRST and if they believe competing in FIRST is no longer in their team's best interest, then there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, if a competition could end up discouraging teams so much that they end up leaving FIRST, perhaps there is something wrong with the decisions being made or that have already been made. I'm all for expansion but maybe the focus should be on districts and super regional instead of dividing championships.

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen (Post 1468908)

While my initial reaction was very similar to many of those expressed earlier in this thread, I think there's something that we're missing, and that we need to reserve judgement until we find out what it is. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but Dave Lavery's post has made me believe that we're not seeing the entire picture, and that the final result will be better.

The sky, contrary to popular belief, is not falling.

Originally Posted by jman4747 (Post 1468925)

What they are saying is they favor winning over the technical chalenge in FRC. Good riddance. I'll stick with the big robots.

Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb) (Post 1468928)

Who is saying VRC isn't a great technical challenge? Heck even on 842 we considered at one point to stop doing FRC and focus on AUVSI's Robosub competition because we thought it was a greater technical challenge and more affordable but ultimately decided on doing both. Would we have been scrutinized for that? And I don't say good riddance. I'd be sad to see so many teams leave.

Originally Posted by jman4747 (Post 1468925)

What they are saying is they favor winning over the technical chalenge in FRC. Good riddance. I'll stick with the big robots.