Excellent.

I didnt care where it was as long as it wasn't Disney.


I wont be with a team next year, or the year after Im assuimg, but I'm going to find a way down to Atlanta the next few years just to be there. From what I've read a majority of the hotels in the good part of downtown are all in one centralized location and under 10 years old. (Thanks 1996 Olympics!! :p) The walk doesnt matter, but hey its the championships. It is going to rock anyway

Thought I would add a little something. Atlanta has tons of Krispy Kreme donuts for those with a sweet tooth :).

Team #538 Dragon Slayers is about 3 hours outside of Atlanta so we'll be there in full force I'm sure.

Six Flags Over Georgia (an easy bus ride from the GA Dome) is a pretty darn good theme park. In terms of thrill rides, it blows Disney out of the water. It has 8 awesome roller coasters -- and thats just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

At least we have the dates in time to plan around them! Can I get an amen?

Good and Bad...
 

I have mixed feeling too- It will be tougher for the West coast teams attending an East coast Championship.

But Altanta is a huge hub for high-tech companies. This mean sponsorships and funding for FIRST. Also the pool of FIRST volunteers can be enormous.

The best reason for me: I can drive to the Championship!
:D

This is going to look like a random question (which it basically is), but how's the food in the Dome? As long as it's better than Houston's food...

It's been over a year since I saw the board at FIRST which has the little pins in it for all the teams but I believe that a large majority of FIRST teams are on the east coast of the US. Hence why most of the considerations for places for nationals were in the east.

I'd also say that Atlanta is a great choice for international teams as the Atlanta airport is one of the major US hub's for international travel. Atlanta also happens to have the busiest airport in the world which should mean it's fairly easy to get a plane flight.

Matt

I'd hate to tell you but I doubt the food situation is going to get better. Do you actually think there is any place located in any convention center that gives decent food for decent prices?

Atlanta
 

I also have mixed feelings about Atlanta......
I have wanted to go back to Disney ever since they announced that last year would be in Texas, i just prefer the disney orginization, but as for giving Atlanta a chance, i am much more willing
I personally, will be attending a National Youth Gathering in the Georgiadome this summer, so i'll do my best to check out the walk from the pits to the dome 4 everyone, if there is anything else anyone would like me to try to look for, just let me know, i'm sure i'll have plenty of time down there;)
look forward to see everyone in atlanta next year
OO--and i'm sure they will have plenty of space for teams, this gathering that i am going to will have about 20,000 kids there, so they should have plenty of space, plus i can check out how the geogia dome staff works :D

Below Grade & Kitty Corner Concerns...
 

Jeremy,

I am excited about Atlanta but I know that many many folks are worried about the ramp issue and to a lesser degree, the distance to the pits.

Getting inside the dome building is one thing, getting to the field you have to play on is another.

How sure are you about this (especially the flat walk)?

Is the playing field on ground level? Many of the fields I am familar with have the field in a hole, below grade.

How long do you estimate it will take to get from one corner of the football field surface to the opposite corner?

I am not complaining, I am just asking.

Finally, I don't think it is spilling the beans or stealing FIRST's thunder to put our minds at rest on these issues, but you will have to decide what Gracious Professsionalism requires in this instance (especially if FIRST more or less made you swear on a stack of bibles not to devulge any such details).

Thanks.

Joe J.

And another thing...
 

Hey I have another question for those in the know...

Is the Peachtree Regional likely to move to the week before the Grand Championships and to be hosted inside the Georgia Dome (a la the Lone Star Regional & the Reliant Dome)?

Just curious.

We almost decided last year to go to the TX regional and the just stay on for the week for the Championships. We decided not to only because we didn't want to take our kids out of school for that long.

This year however, our school's spring break is the week of the Championships. This may tilt the scales toward making a go of the GA regional -- if it is at the same facility as the Championships and if it is just one week prior.

So... ...do tell.

Joe J.

Re: And another thing...
 

Taking that one step further......
I'm curious what the regional schedule is going to look like next year. Does anyone know when it will be released? Does anyone have an "inside info" about it now?

Remember, don't share if your not comfortable, Like Joe mentioned above: I don't want to pressure anyone into revealing things they shouldn;t...

In addition
 

On the whole, I'm very excited about going to Atlanta. It's a great city and I have wanted see it for a long time. Congrats to FIRST for negotiating a long-term deal in a prime location that has the potential for major media exposure and a lot to do for the students.
I too, at this very early stage, have the same "two building" questions Joe does. In addition, the thing I really didn't like about the Houston set up was how it affected judging and team members in the pits. I hope we can provide a solution for this over the next three years.
We made the decision in Houston to leave team members in the pits at all times to be available for judges. This means that two or three students were not able to be with the team during our matches which detracts somewhat from the team experience. Instead they watched the big screen in the Astrodome and we kept the cell phones open for them to hear. Still, knowing we had some of our seniors (the most experienced who can best tell our story), at their final event, having to sacrifice to that extent for the team, was a little uncomfortable to me as a teacher advisor.
I know other teams that left their pit empty for up to 45 minutes at a time, around each of their matches, in Houston. This obviously led to some "missed opportunties" for teams to tell more of their story and accomplishments to the judges, which is a huge part of what FIRST is all about.
I'd be very interested to hear a judge's point of view on how the two building set up worked for them, whether or not they found more empty pits than usual, if they were able to find their way to see match play as much as they wanted to, and what their suggestions are for improvement.
This may seem like a minor point, but I think, given some creative problem solving, we can work at providing the kind of judge-team interaction we are accustomed to seeing at regionals for the championship as well. What are your thoughts?

I was thinking...whats the capacity of the stadium/surrounding area? If it's big enough, would it be possible to eliminate the even/odd qualification system for next year and just let everyone go?

While I don't doubt that the stadium could hold everyone in FIRST two or three times over, I think that the real limiting factor where Championship attendance is concerned is not the venue at all but the available staff to run the fields and the rest of the event.

That said, they could give us the biggest stadium on Earth, but until FIRST finds some way of getting more people involved in the running of this event, either by bringing on new staff or otherwise training volunteers, the size limitations will remain.

I do hope, however, that staffing problems can be addressed.

What if every kid on a first team was required to bring at least one Vouenteer! "Drag your'e parent to FIRST day"! What an idea!


Less sarcasticaly speaking, I think the people who DO voulenteer to help out at FIRST events are amazing, and very kind to donate their time, but we need more help! What if the city of Atlanta put out a "call" via local news for people to come out and help!