Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesBrown
Wings haven't missed the playoffs since FIRST was founded, I can't imagine the Arena is going to book anything during playoffs until they are definitely out.
NHL/NBA playoffs knock out the majority of large capacity Basketball and Hockey venues.
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You are indeed correct about the Wings chances of missing the playoffs. They have the longest streak amongst porfessional sports for playoff appearences ever (I think, don't quote me on it). However, I was refering to the fact that the Wings have been lobbying for a new/renovated arena for a year or two now. Admittedly Joe Louis Arena isn't the nicest venue in the world. There is a remote possiblility that they could move their home venue from the Joe to The Palace of Auburn Hills if they get no tangible feedback from the city of Detroit.
As for the comments by seveal people that Michigan is the exact opposite of the ideal place to hold WCs. I would like to ask if you are satisfied with a situation where each state has roughly 1 FRC team for every 58,000 citizens. Does FRC only have the chance to grow to up to 5,250 US teams?That sounds like a large number, yet consider the number of secondary schools in the US. There are approximately 37,000 public and private high schhols in America, most of them completely capable of supporting an FRC team. The largest roadblock however is money. Due to the district structure and the concentration of FRC teams within the state of Michigan, Michigan is the closest of any region to becoming the ideal region. If one model region is fostered and grown others will follow. By bringing the FIRST Championships to Michigan I argue that an unprecidented amount of growth would occur across the US and Canada (due to its proximity).
My reasoning being that so many teams exist in Michigan, and Michigan teams are amongst the best teams a starting "mentored" FRC teams (see 3538, 3773, and 3539 as examples) that giving them a resource as great as the FIRST Championship would ony accelerate growth in the Michigan market. The next reason FIRST stands the greated benifit by holding champinships in Michigan is the potential for sponsorship revenue. As a group Michigan is a quite well funded region, however with increased growth comes a need for increased revenue. By placing the CMPs directly into the backyard of many large local corporations, Michigan would recieve the sponsorships necessary to gain more teams.
Under my belief that the US can support as many teams as there are high schools there is room for 1,200 teams in Michigan so long as sufficient funds are available. The reason other regions would benifit from Michigan's growth is this. Government reacts slowly to things, yet it will eventually respond. If Michigan is able to have a total number of teams approximately equal to 350 within several years of gaining the CMP, it could possibly kickstart widescale recognition of FRC by local districts and state legislatures. Eventually school districts will realize it is more worthwhille giving their robotics team 15K than drowning 90k in the heating costs for a high school swimming pool (Monroe Public Schools spends $92,000 a year on swimming pool upkeep, with virtually no revenue sources or educational value in it).
The more teams there are the more visible FIRST is. The more visible FIRST is the more attention it gets. The faster a single region gains visibility the faster other regional gain revenue from the increased visibility of the other region. The faster other regions become visible the quicker these regions gain teams.
Sorry for that extremely long thought, and the typos; I had to do this using IE.