[SM987]

It's very personal and team dependent. Will it level the playing field somewhat? I believe so. Those "elite" teams will improve say 5-10% with the extended build season while teams that have a rolling chassis by week 6 will improve considerably more. Will it reduce mentor stress? I can say in our team's case it probably would not. I suppose if we didn't have to build a practice bot (no stop build) it might reduce it some (not much). The student grades dropping is another good point. There are many sides to the argument. I'm torn between the "if it aint broke don't fix it" and the fact that the level of competition would rise if they lifted the restriction. I feel like it should be one or the other; either we bag/ship it and there's a much more stringent/small withholding allowance, or just leave it open. With 30lbs of withholding this year, it may as well have been an unlimited build season.