Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Zondag
I don't understand why people think that running low cost events have anything to do with where you live or how many teams are in your area. You have it exactly backwards. The BEST place for a low cost event model is in areas with low team density. Which is easier: starting a $150,000 event in the middle of nowhere, or starting a $7,000 event in the middle of nowhere?
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I guess you didn't read what I
actually wrote.
I said the "district
system model". Not the "district event". They are two different things that I am saying here.
The district event, or what I referred to as the "district event model" in my earlier post, is the event itself. I merely stated that it seemed more low-key, like an offseason. IRI is an offseason--but it's got some of the best competition. That's the part that is fairly easily scalable--you just need to change the event site to an appropriate venue, figure out your favorite A/V solution if you think you need it, settle the details of having a Bag & Tag instead of shipped event, and grab a few extra volunteers for crowd control (and other jobs that would need more volunteers than a normal event), and you should be good to go. I've never been to an MI event, partially due to never having been to MI. I've seen the webcasts, though.
The district system model is where your entry fee gets you two events, and all the rest of that stuff that can be expanded into later, as I understand the plan is/was. That's the part that is going to be really hard to scale. That's the part that a lot of places currently won't be able to handle. That's the part that you
need a high team density for.
That's where the regionals should come in. As a given area gets a bunch of districts/district systems, have one or two regionals close to the border area between them. Suppose that Indiana (Boilermaker), Illinois (Midwest), and Ohio (no regional, but some teams) form a district "zone" like MI has. Place a regional somewhere around Chicago that is open to any team. That's your mixing area and a place for teams from, say, Wisconsin or Iowa, which have somewhat lower team densities, to come and play against teams from the district zones. Then when, say, WI and MN form a district area, keep that regional open to continue to serve as a mixing point for the various districts.