I have three wild ideas that may be impossible.
First of all, i don't think we need 8 divisions. I can definitely see moving to 6 divisions, though. That seems most attractive to me.
1) FLL moves to the center of the floor with grandstands erected around that space. That gives FLL a more intimate playing environment and allows for more space. You could then take Patrick's picture and alter it a bit so that a couple of the filds are on the "short side" of the stadium. I don't like the option of moving FLL or FTC entirely into the convention center, so that seems pretty attractive.
2) Place an FTC field (and even an FLL table) for every FRC field. This eliminates the need for separate areas, and they just round-robin the playing. Run an FRC match, then FTC, then FLL, then repeat. (or combine this option with option 1 and just do FTC/FRC together, and FLL in their own separate area, either in the center of the dome floor or in a similar configuration to what we have now)
3) Move the championship to a location that has a basketball arena. I saw a proposal on CD (
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=105379&page=1) to move the championship to the LA convention center and the Staples Center. FRC fields in the convention center. I know this seems unattractive, but it could work with the right setup (
https://www.google.com/search?q=conv...s%3B718%3B312). I saw somewhere a picture of convention center grandstands with a "concourse" walkway going around the middle (
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...26_160835.jpg). Given a space like LA that has a much larger convention center than St. Louis (more of the size of the Georgia World Congress Center, if I'm not mistaken, but in one building). FTC and FLL play in the basketball arena. Then Einstein moves in on Saturday, basically ensuring that everybody has a a good seat 360 degrees all the way around the field. We only use one side of the dome for closing ceremonies anyway, I imagine the seating capacity is similar to the # of people we have at championships.
It seems like FIRST was considering option 3 with the site selection for 2015-17. Many of the facilities that won a bid did not have a football dome (Detroit, Louisville off the top of my head; others?).
Again, this may not work at all, but it's a thought. I always prefer to start with the craziest, most impossible ideas, and slim them down from there.