[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Karthik

As important as the discussion is about the future size of the Championship, it's distracting from the issue at hand. As it stands right now, we have a preliminary match schedule where teams only have 8 qualifying matches. This is simply not enough. What can we do get teams an extra match, putting us back at the standard we were at in 2012?

We have reports from regionals where they were able to consistently turn sub 7:00 cycles. So consider this option. 9 matches at a 6:45 cycle.

This means:

8 matches * 99 teams = 891 plays
891 plays / 6 teams per match = 148.5 matches --> 149 with three surrogate teams
149 matches * 6:45 cycle = 1005.75 minutes (Round to 1006)

The current match schedule has 960 minutes of playtime. 1006 - 960 = 46 minutes that need to be added to the schedule to achieve a 6:45 cycle with 9 matches per team.

This would require 1006 minutes of play time, which is 46 more minutes than we have right now. Where can we find this time?

- Start qualification matches at 12:45p instead of 1:00p on Thursday = 15 minutes
- End qualification matches at 8:15p instead of 8:00p on Thursday = 15 minutes
- End lunch at 12:45 instead of 1:00p on Friday = 15 minutes
- End qualification matches at 6:30p instead of 6:15p on Thursday = 15 minutes

That would give us 60 extra minutes in the schedule, meaning 1020 minutes of playtime, allowing for a cycle of 6:51. This is definitely doable. Yes, it will be a rushed pace, but I think the teams are up for it. If the issue is that FIRST needs more volunteers, let us know. I'll personally march through the pits on Thursday morning and recruit extra volunteers for you, if it means we get an extra match. I know some of my friends will do the same. Heck, I bet you I can get at least 50 extra volunteers just from the attendees of my seminar on Wednesday night. Let's all work together to make sure all teams get the most bang for their buck this week! FIRST has been doing an amazing job of making things more team centric over the past year, I have complete faith that they'll make the right decision here and get us more qualifying matches.

This sounds doable. And the championship usually has the top level volunteers that serve FIRST (at least at the key positions) so I think the turnaround times can be done.