[nicholsjj]

It might just be the area, but I have to look at the Cow Town Throwdown offseason event held by team 1730. Alliances are not allowed to pick inside the top 8. This has lead to exciting elimination finals as the final field is much more balanced. Let's take last year for instance. Team 16, team 1986, and team 3528 were by far the best 3 robots at the event.(This is not meant to slight any team that did attend, but it just shows how amazing those three robots were.) If either of those two teams had partnered up then everyone at Lee Summit would have know which alliance would win. Because teams could not pick inside the top 8 the eliminations became very close and exciting for all of the alliances. All three of the "powerhouse" robots made the semis and I feel that the teams had a more positive experience. I think it's a good idea in the offseason, but I understand why it would hurt teams at a FIRST Regional where the teams are trying to qualify for championships.