[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Honestly, I don't think the system is broken, and everyone is getting worked up over nothing. There are set ways to qualify for the Championship. This isn't anything new. If good teams fail to qualify, it does not make the system flawed, it just means that individual team did not do enough to qualify.

As FIRST grows, there will be more teams and more competitions, meaning more merit-based qualifiers/less buy-ins, making this whole topic a non-issue. Although quite frankly, I like having some buy-ins. It gives smaller/less successful teams a chance to experience the big leagues every once in a while, so to say.