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Originally Posted by Alpha Beta
Doesn't this happen now in districts when teams get a 3rd event. Only the first two count towards district ranking points. Has it been a problem thus far?
PS. What was the biggest factor in getting FIRST to approve districts for such a small FRC population base?
My guess would be the dedication of the volunteers that run the offseason events as well as the two regionals.
Good luck, we're rooting for you to make this a success.
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There were some discussions of the choices behind the new compact district model being piloted by IN for next season at the FIRST World Conference this week. There was not a single reason given as the main driving force. Some of the reasons quoted was that they have proven they have the volunteer base to pull it off partially based on their ability to run off-season events. Their Regionals were also ones that have struggled to come up with sufficient funding in the past. So a big part of the case they made was that they really needed to make the transition to districts to ensure the long term sustainability of FRC in the area. Since they will end up with only 3 district events they will have lower infrastructure capital spending that could lower the costs in the initial season and certainly over the long term. In the PNW the need for 2 fields worth of equipment meant that there was not any cost savings for the initial season though there certainly will be this upcoming and future seasons.
Part of it was desire on FIRST's part to try a different District model that if successful could open up the viability of more areas joining the District System sooner as well as making the transition easier. It can also potentially be the pilot of district events weeks 1-4 and DCMP week 6, if they can align the dates which is one of the things FIRST has thrown out as something for other districts to potentially try in future seasons.