Quote:
Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb)
The offer stood for every match in the regional including qualifying so money was technically involved throughout the whole competition.
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Wow. This is a shocking situation. In FRC, in a year in which the game is highly defensive in nature, a sponsor of a specific regional is offering a cash reward to teams at that specific regional if they can stage high scoring matches.
If someone had told me this story as hearsay, I would have told them they must be wrong. That kind of thing does not happen in FIRST. But evidently from these first hand accounts it is true. Never have I heard of sponsors or anyone else offering money to teams who can manage a certain outcome to matches. That is the worst idea and the slipperiest slope I have ever heard of.
Even if the sponsor's intent wasn't to pump up the scores and records at their regional, how could they not anticipate that there would be any other appearance? Is this where FIRST is going? Cash prizes for scoring performances? Some regionals with monetary prizes and some regionals without? I cannot believe that FIRST agrees with or condones this situation.
There are more considerations and more teams/people affected by this than just those involved in this match. The integrity of the results of the regional, the integrity of scoring records, statistics, and OPRs in all of FRC, and the integrity of FIRST competitions in general are affected. FIRST is an amatuer sport driven by GP, learning, and competitive spirit. Nothing good can come from making it a competition for money.