[Taylor]

Has anybody done a stress analysis on the actual bridge structure to see if it could withstand suspensions from the side? As thorough as they are, I'd assume 118 has done so but I haven't seen evidence.
That's a pretty incredible moment arm for that part of the bridge to support; if the same part of the bridge was used to suspend several times during a regional, and several regionals during a season, it's possible for that component to fail.
Can you imagine the (figurative and literal) carnage that would follow if the bridge broke during eliminations? Possibly leading to field, robot, even site damage? Screams of "We were balanced until the field failed - we should be given those points!"
Are there spare bridges shipped with the field? What if a particularly innovative team coupled 118's design with 1501 - allowed a robot to drive upon it, then balanced on the side of the bridge? There's no way the structure could support that.
The GDC made the ruling that had to be made. Sometimes the game has to be played in real time to really understand the rules - it's happened before. That's why we have team updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.
I agree the timing is poor in this circumstance. Kudos to 118 for everything.