[EricH]

Originally Posted by JosephC

Answer 1: Average swimming pool size I suppose.

Answer 2: I personally believe that First is slowly switching to venues to have pools. In Michigan this year our newest district competition was at Northville. Northville has a swimming pool, the previous venue did not. And Saint Louis does have a river...

I think that switching to venues that happen to have pools is a coincidence. FWIW, most high schools in the U.S. would have a pool (or have one nearby), but would also be cheaper to put a FRC event in than a sports arena. With FRC moving to more events for less money, it just makes sense to go to cheaper venues. Whether said cheaper venues have a pool or not at that point is a non-issue--it just turns out that way or not.

But here's the kicker: if the pool is in the Midwest, it's going to be either indoors or empty during competition, something about winter and pools not being filled during winter if outdoors. If the pool is in the South or Southwest, there's at least a 50% chance if not much higher that it'll be outdoors! That introduces a whole new dimension to the game, known as weather, which in some areas of the country could result in everybody watching getting soaked by rain or heavily sunburned. Plus you get varying lighting conditions, debris "on" the field, you get the picture. And oh, yeah, throw in some rather annoyed swim teams because there went their practice space for a week (gotta set up, gotta remove all debris afterwards, and don't forget to check all the chemical levels).

Also, in 2008 the Los Angeles regional shared a venue with a "pool". It should be noted, however, that the venue was double-booked that weekend. (And there were some not-too-happy teams due to the resulting crowded pits.) The following year, the regional moved to across the street from a harbor. No water game yet...