Well, just to add my 2 cents into it, I think that Houston was a little more than harsh on the Drive teams. I mean, a half a mile walk to and from the competition arena.. That's a little ridiculous. it got so bad for me that it hurt to walk down the ramps. WDW was closer together. The energy flew more. You could tell that it was a national competition because everybody was so cramped together. It looked and felt bigger. I don't know, maybe it's just me... but I thought that the environment was better at Epcot.

It must have been nice for T3 to have that mini truck to make the trips back and forth in Houston.

Either Atlanta or WDW would make me happy...
I could actually see family in Atlanta :D

Hate to end this rumor, but I heard from a reliable source within FIRST, that they signed a two year contract with Houston. It will be at Reliant Park again next year, unless something changes.

Okay... I have a bone to pick. Too many people are citing "reliable sources within FIRST" to all be correct. If you just heard somebody say something, don't claim it as a "reliable source." Sure, this is the Rumor Mill, but don't try to be passing off random suppostitions as the Word of God... You can't all have "reliable sources," so don't say you do if you don't have one.

I have to agree. Of course, there are plenty of people saying that they have heard this type of thing... hmm... I guess only time will tell...

I don't mind Houston again, as I've lived there for a while. From what I've heard many a person enjoyed the Fl championship better (larger park, closer pits, facilities, etc...), but I enjoy the weather in Houston more than in Fl, and only in Texas do they make brisket burgers that good. mmm:) ...brisket:) ...ahhh, good.:D

FIRST has sent a survey to Main contacts and team captains
 

I would bet big money that NO decisions have been made regarding Nationals yet.........
How do I know this?
FIRST sent a fairly extensive survey to each team 'main contact' with a lot of questions regarding the Nationals. We were then to send it to our student team captains for them to complete as well.
FIRST asked us to compare Epcot with Houston with regards to food, transportation, costs, hotel, service, the parks, packages versus no packages, and so on. They asked what we liked and what we didn't like about everything. The surveys were due to be completed by today.

We have the FIRST Forum coming up next week in several places around the country, and I know that this topic will be a big topic.
FIRST wants to do the right thing by all of us, and they are listening.

i heard that 5 cities were bidding to hold nationals next year and that the meeting for that bidding was last friday (the 23rd)

I don't care where they hold just as long as I am there wherever is fine with me. Altough it is funny to see people raise a fuss about where it is going to be held because you are all probably wrong

Lets see... we could just use simple logic to narrow this problem down.

L.A. is too far from the teams on the east coast, they won't be happy. Plus there aren't any good places to host it. You saw Houston, 2 stadiums and six flags.

Atlanta is a possability. It's well positioned, and there are lots of convention centers there.

Houston is possible. It was there last year, why not again? True, the half mile walk really killed me though. I was forced to do it every time with a crappy dolly-like thing.

Orlando is possible, but doubtful. It's too close to WDW, and it's been there a few times already.

WDW is very doubtful, since it sucks for us west coast teams to burn our money on the airplane ticket, and it's been there already.

St. Louis is possible for the same reasons as Orlando.

To me, the most probable are St. Louis, Orlando, or Houston.
Or whoever bribes FIRST.

Good point. I forgot Atlanta. If it's true, as it seems to be, all the better. Atlanta's cool, and round trip tickets cost as much as they do to Houston.

It's true. Check FIRST's website for the very ultimate in rumor confirmation luxury and amenities.