Quote:
Originally Posted by PerpetualMotion
While others have said Indianapolis is the most central for teams, for the teams outside of driving distance, flight cost are long and/or expensive to non-major airports. According to wikipedia, Atlanta is the most busy airport in the US, so it likely has the cheapest rates and most direct flights. St. Louis is ranked 31st and Indianapolis is 50th. IMO, travel is the next most important metric, so Atlanta wins by a landslide, however if the stadium is in fact slated to be torn down in 2017, maybe it's not actually an option as I'm sure FIRST would want a contract longer than 2-3 years.
If Atlanta is out of the question, I would be interested to know how well connected the Lucas Oil Stadium and Indiana Convention Center are, and how easy it will be for robots to get to/from the fields. |
I believe the new Stadium is going to remain on the "GWCC campus" with its most likely location being on the north side of the GWCC instead of the south, where the Georgia Dome is. I believe the NCAA, SEC, and Peach Bowl committee have cited their favorability of the location to hold major events because they also use one of the halls of the convention center for fan events for Final Four, SEC Football Championship, and Chick Fil A Peach Bowl "fanfests" in a contained environment.
The GWCC is also the largest event space of its kind when added in with the dome, and the GWCC will have nominal ownership and control over the new stadium.
As I have mentioned in previous threads, the AirTran/Southwest merger coupled with Delta have made the Atlanta airport not only a living hell for people who need connecting flights out of the airport
, it means usually teams can fly direct cheaper from far flung places for cheaper than connecting into St Louis.
It is interesting that HQ has announced this one year extension into 2014 but has neither officially renewed in St Louis nor made any rumblings of putting out a bid yet, but we may see that during or after the summer.