[EStokely]

Wow. of the reasons to drop out I would have bet money on "not being able to go to the nationals unless we won our regional" as not being a reason.

I think we all saw this coming. If not this year then next year. Disney can't accomodate 700 teams. I'm not sure I would be willing to compete in a 700 team field.

At a 40% growth rate FIRST had to do this

I look at the nationals as evolving into what HS sports does.

If you do well you move on to the 'State Championships'. In our case 'State' is another name for Florida.
Mock Trial has this type of setup. As do Band competitions, Academic competitions...

I guess what puzzles me is we call it a competition but some people get upset when you want to use competitive criteria to decide who goes to the Nationals.
And for the record. My old team made the finals a few times but never won a regional.

I hope Mike reconsiders next year. a long time team (61) is a huge assett to the FIRST community .
In any event, have fun.

(I've also looked into the HS BattleBots. Seems they need to work on it a bit more)

Eric