[Racer26]

Except that there is limited correlation between team budget and team performance. Never mind the correlation != causation argument.

There are low budget teams (like my own 4343, who competed at two regionals and built their robot for around $11,000 total this year) who perform fantastically (we captained the #2 alliance all the way to the finals at GTREast).

Conversely, there are many teams with very high budgets that don't perform well at all.

Yes, there are teams with big budgets that have great success on field. 1114, 2056, 148, 118 and more come quickly to mind. However, their budget is not the reason for their success. The reason for their success is hard work.