pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Interesting to see how the championship seems to be farthest away from the higher-populated team centers. Is there any data on travel distance for these events?

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Preaching to the MAR choir with that observation :P

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Bailey is quoted for truth.

Don't quote me on this, but I believe part of the motivation to put it there was to encourage team growth in that region. Considering it's four years later and the map looks like that, it does not appear to have been especially effective.

I don't have any aggregate data, but I know about 1257's travel times. We're in Union County, the small county with 3 teams in northeast NJ. We typically attend Bridgewater-Raritan (30 minutes away) and Mount Olive (45 minutes away), and MAR Champs is around an hour and fifteen minutes away. It isn't too bad for us, but it's a bit of a hike, and that seems to be a recurring theme with MAR teams.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Wow, I guess different districts have different ideas about what a "hike" is. I would LOVE to have three events within an hour and 30 minutes of most (vast majority for MAR?) locations in my district.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Believe me, I was spoiled by being within the North/Central Jersey team cluster. I learned how lucky MAR teams are when I attended FLR with 2791, our second closest regional, which was three and a half hours away.

The farthest I had ever traveled with 1257 was to the Springside Chestnut Hill event my freshman year. It was an hour and a half away, but I got to play 2012 341 so I'd say it was worth it.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Just out of curiosity, what is the 1 team in Monmouth County, NJ? I've been looking into that area and didn't see one...

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

I think it's 4128 in Holmdel.

EDIT: It would appear they no longer compete. Not sure who it is then.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Thanks!

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

I don't have any insight as to the MAR planning committee's inner workings, but just as a point of reference:

My guess for a worst-case travel time to the MAR district championships is 2:18 (from the Dover, DE area).

PNW district championship to the two largest population centers in the district:
4:17 (Seattle, WA)
5:21 (Portland, OR)

This is roughly equivalent to holding the MAR championship in Pittsburgh.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Mid-Atlantic Robotics has a great partnership with Lehigh University. Without going to deep, MAR Champs is a $60,000 event. 80% of MAR teams are within 60 miles of the venue. It is a safe venue in a sub-urban/rural setting, and provides the space needed to effectively run our District Championships.

That said, the Venue Selection Committee and the Competition Committee have continually evaluated a variety of venues. The underlying concerns with these venues is location, capacity and cost.

Princeton University has been approached three times and will not commit to a date until 60 days out from the event. The Sun National Bank Center and the Liacouras Center have also been evaluated. These venues are in Urban Areas and command an steep price for Rental and Labor.

The vast majority of teams have a commensurate travel time to the event, and while there are no Hotels on top of the venue, MAR has each year arranged for transportation to and from a list of hotels in Bethlehem.

The competition committee has taken great measure to try to effectively distribute competitions throughout the region. Venues have been mapped against the geographic distribution of teams.

Should members of MAR have suggestions for additional venues they should direct them to the competition committee whose contact information can be found on midatlanticrobotics.org

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

That would be 1807, from Allentown, NJ! Here's a full list for each county.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

Our first closest district event is three hours away. Sure beats when Traverse City was the closest at about seven hours.

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

This also brings to light another point. Does anyone know the precise border of MAR in Pennsylvania? So far it's largely been a non-issue, since the vast majority of teams in PA are clustered in the general area of either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. But at some future point, if teams start springing up in those counties cut in half on this diagram, are they MAR teams or regional teams?

Re: pic: MAR Team Distribution (2016)
 

From the bylaws:

Territory
The Corporation represents a geographical area that includes the entirety of the states of Delaware and New Jersey and the counties of Pennsylvania including Bradford, Sullivan, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Dauphin, York and all counties to the east of the aforementioned.