FIRST is going out on a limb by moving the championship to a new location, so there will be many new experiences for teams, referees, FIRST, sponsors, and even the city of Houston. In all fairness, FIRST is probably going to keep the qualification system this year, and see how things go at the championship with fewer teams. There will be some problems this year because of the new venue, and the less amount of teams there, the easier it will be to deal with them. Also, FIRST had problems finding event staff, security, field crews, etc. Once they can get the right numbers of event crew, which could also play into account
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FIRST will probably be desperate for volunteers, maybe (like Andy B. said) some of the larger teams send some kids to do volunteer work at the event. I’m sure these larger teams would be willing to do so, because there is only so much a team can do with Robot work in the pit, scouting, marketing, etc. Some people just walk around and sit and watch. This will give teams the ability to take more people (if they can afford it) knowing that they can find something to do for them.




So basically,

If The championship runs fairly smoothly this year (depending on the venue), there is a fairly good chance FIRST will allow all teams to come next year.

If FIRST wants to have a larger event, volunteers will be needed, they cant be pulled out of a hat.