I speculate that reasons for a dearth of off-season events include:
- A wealth of near-by off season events in NJ and CT
- A significant percentage of FRC teams that don't really have the resources to take themselves to the next level by meeting much more often than they do, almost year-round
- A relative lack of parent involvement, essential volunteers to run an event
- Inner-city venues that don't lend themselves to off-season events
- Teams who don't have the human resources to attend an off-season event (it's not the money)
I base these speculations on my own biases from having lived here all my life, plus some observations on what happened when teams DID try to run events, which were very under-subscribed and ultimately canceled.
Asking a team (or group of teams) to run a District event with no experience in running an off-season is a recipe for disaster.
So my point is that an early step in the process would be to generate interest in a few off-season events in the area.
(On an unrelated topic: What are there no teams in Rockland County and only two in Westchester (Katonah and Yonkers)?)