Please try to keep an open mind when it comes to Championship. Some things to think about, some have been said some not.
1. This may be YOUR 5th - 10th trip to Championship/Nationals, this may be the 1st and only trip form many teams & kids. Let everyone play in the dome. If that means you to calibrate your robot for 2 different fields, do so without huge complaint. Know that some kid will walk into the dome and it will be the coolest thing that his team gets to play there!
2. Most of your team doesn't have to wait until noon exactly to move. Unless you have the last match on that field then you do. Most people will transition after thier last match ends on that field. Yes I know scouting will be a pain.
3. No robot parade? This does seem like a downer, especially for teams that finally earned the right to walk in it. Have they always had the parade? I don't remember one before Atlanta? I think the logistics of walking teams around that large of a space it just a bit difficult.
4. I wouldn't be surprised to se only 2 fields in the dome and not 2 plus Einstein. By looking at the schedule it would seem all elimination matches will be on 2 fields. Don't get any crazy ideas about 16 teams per division playing it out. This is probably the reason for qualification matches ending at 10:30 not noon.
5. The convention center is pretty big.
http://www.explorestlouis.com/meetin...Tour/index.asp If you take the photo tour you can see some size. The space for 4 & 5 are almost the same as the Dome Floor itself. You could easily fit 2 fields & bleachers in there. This keeps all fields somewhat together. Look at the specs that Lucas posted for the number of 10X10 booths you can fit in each hall. They can probably close off part of a wall to reduce the noise from one section to another. They did this at Chesapeake and it helped a ton!
6. Number of teams, last time I checked there were only around 300 teams on the list. That number will grow after this weekend but by how many? Even if there are 320 teams thats 80 teams to a division. Big but not huge.
Guys, the past is behind us, lets look forward to a great event. Instead of pointing out the possible flaws and complaining, lets see if we can help FIRST make this an awesome event.