[EricH]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Is this in the rule book. Or is it just tradition?

Tradition, and the FMS.

The FMS knows what the pairings called for by the Manual are--there's a bracket in Section 5.4.3. The only thing dictating the color is that FMS apparently thinks that red is the top line on any given bracket pair. Therefore, it assigns red to the higher-seeded alliance, and then the winners of the odd QFs and the odd SF.



Incidentally, if you are on either Alliance #1 OR Alliance #6, you really only need to bring one set of bumpers to the arena for the finals. Alliance #1 is always red; Alliance #6 is always blue. All other alliances switch at some point if they make it that far.