Re: Registration 2017
 

The typical cap is 66 teams--last year, L.A. and San Diego (and SVR, I think) all had that cap, and only the Week 1 in that bunch didn't fill it. That isn't a hard-and-fast cap, but it seems to be "what works the best" in the case of regionals that everybody wants to attend. More teams--even if there's space--will result in even fewer plays (a 66-team event generally runs about 8-9 plays/team in quals), so that's kind of frowned upon. (And some folks make a big deal about how 60+ is too many.)

I would say that the criteria for splitting a regional are essentially the same as the criteria for starting a new regional, which your Regional Director will know a little bit better than me--but I'll try anyways. By the way, start now--it can take a year or two to get a regional running.

You'll need a Regional Planning Committee, which will then be responsible for filling in other important details like suitable venues, volunteers, food, power if needed, internet connection for the field... pretty much everything the regional needs.

You'll also need to have a need for said new regional. Your FSMs and RDs will be able to see that a little bit better, but basically you'd need enough teams within a reasonable range to support both. I ran some quick numbers, and I'd suspect that the North regional in event of a split would have a much easier time attracting teams than the South (other than the continual pressure from CA on regionals located in adjacent states...), but with enough double-play teams (playing at both events) I think it could work out.


Short version: You're probably at the point to start thinking about another event, and discussing it with the Senior Mentors and the Regional Directors, but without some growth that also needs to happen, and the organizing body, it'll be quite a while.

Re: Registration 2017
 

North Star/10K Lakes are across the street from each other, at the same time, and hold 60/63 teams, respectively. And have done so for many years. In Duluth, Northern Lights and Lake Superior are in the same building (pits are in conference halls across from each other, fields are back to back in an attached hockey arena) and hold 60/63 teams, and have done so for many years.

Looking at last year's regionals, I see sizes: 64, 60, 63, 60, 41, 63, 49, 52, 66, 63, 59, 49, 53, 50, 52, 66, 66, 52, 40, 56, 36, 58, 36... and that's just through week 3. So really, 50 isn't on the bigger size - the median size for the first 3 weeks of regionals (plus week .5) is 56.

If you want to get the regionals to split, get the demand for them up over 65, preferably more like 80... then you'll have enough to justify two regionals.

Keep in mind adding another regional means that much more work for volunteers, recruiting more volunteers, finding a location, additional sponsorship to fund the regional... it's a big endeavor adding a new regional!

Re: Registration 2017
 

Something of a Registration question. When I try to sign up for Kickoff event I get a message that says my data has been Saved, not that it has been Sent.
Another FIRST website glitch? I will probably give them a call on this and a few assorted matters (they are also not showing our payment as received) but curious as to whether this is a general problem. TW

Re: Registration 2017
 

That's what I get too, but the information is all there after I hit "Submit" when I later go back so I think that's the way it works.
If you talk to FIRST HQ and find out different please let us all know.

Re: Registration 2017
 

Mark, thank you once again for doing all the data collection, analysis and reporting. It's always a blast to see it all in one place!

How does the growth chart look this year? Last time you posted it, it appeared we were on track for a smaller than normal increase of teams.

Re: Registration 2017
 

I'm at an off-season so the next chart update will be delayed.

Re: Registration 2017
 

3100 teams just now.

Only 30 more teams and we match last season's total teams.

Re: Registration 2017
 

Mark, how does that compare to where we usually are at this point? Is this finally the year that we barely see growth or is it just because teams are hiding on waitlists in places?

Re: Registration 2017
 

Growth at this point is ~4.5% over last year at this same time.
While last year at this time we were sitting at ~6.8% growth (final gain for 2016 was 8.2%).

I'll post a current plot as soon as we pass last year's number of teams which will probably be tomorrow.

Re: Registration 2017
 

Another way of asking the question... how does this compare to the dates we've passed the previous year's total registration for the past few years?

Re: Registration 2017
 

That's on my plot, but since this year's crossing point is still predictive I don't want to publish it before it's been made real.
I also want to see if my projection of the crossing point from a few weeks ago is going to be correct.

Need another 19 teams...

Re: Registration 2017
 

Can you please share an update on district teams registered for regionals?

Re: Registration 2017
 

It hasn't changed all that much:

2914 ----- South Florida Regional ----- Washington, DC
5484 ----- South Florida Regional ----- South Bend, IN
125 ------ South Florida Regional ----- Boston, MA
5243 ----- South Florida Regional ----- Centreville, VA
11 ------- Lone Star Central Regional - Flanders, NJ
87 ------- Lone Star Central Regional - Mount Holly, NJ
2200 ----- Rocket City Regional ------- Burlington, ON Canada
2386 ----- Rocket City Regional ------- Burlington, ON Canada
4188 ----- Rocket City Regional ------- Columbus, GA
3314 ----- Rocket City Regional ------- Clifton, NJ
2016 ----- Rocket City Regional ------- Trenton, NJ
341 ------ Lone Star North Regional -- Ambler, PA
709 ------ Western Canada Regional -- Bryn Mawr, PA
2234 ----- Western Canada Regional -- Newtown Square, PA

Re: Registration 2017
 

Interesting that 7 of the 14 district teams chosing to attend regionals are from MAR.

Re: Registration 2017
 

You're missing 27, Rush who are registered for the Northern Light's regional in Duluth, they showed up on the list last night though, so that may just be a slight delay on your process picking up the changes.

Thank you for doing all this work. This is a thread I enjoy watching every year.