[Joe G.]

I would say that the average VEX team does not take the competition as seriously as the average FRC team does, because the minimum entry costs are significantly lower. However, those at the top level are absolutely putting in every hour that they can, and perform multiple complete rebuilds over the course of the season.

I think that one of FRC's greatest assets is how seriously the average team takes the program, and as a result, the incredible things that they do not just on the robot side of things, but the chairman's side of things. If a greater time requirement to be competitive was present, I fear that the number of teams doing these things would diminish, and more would become "casual" teams like a majority of VRC teams. The open season does not guarantee quality in VRC, far from it. Rather, the majority of regional level VEX events today look a lot like some FIRST events in regions where people talk about "unsustainable growth" like Texas; lots of low quality teams with a few powerhouses. "Casual" VRC teams I've worked with spend large parts of build, for lack of a better term, goofing off, then pull a last-second crunch-build. I want the minimum possible number of FIRST teams to be like this. And on the flip side, VRC powerhouses take advantage of all the time they have. This drives the performance gap wider still.