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Originally Posted by Bertman
Who does district play in Texas benefit?
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Tony, I can't speak for everyone but moving to districts will greatly benefit my team. We're a good team but we aren't anywhere close to a powerhouse team. We have never won a regional. The district system allows for more events at a lower price for registration but one of the other big impacts is it dramatically changes who represents the state at the Championship Event. The top tier teams are truly inspirational and we get to play with a lot of them at most of the Texas events, which I love, but it also means that many times some of the top teams in the state don't get a regional win and thus world qualification spots. Wildcards help the situation but if you play at an early event or happen to be on the wrong side of the bracket you don't get much relief. Last season (2013) Texas had 6 teams invited to IRI and only 4 of those were able to compete at the World Championships. That would be far rarer with the district qualification system.
Also having a true state champion will put FRC in a different perspective to a lot of schools. There are districts and principals who see winning a Texas State Championship as more important than winning a World Championship.
The travel costs are a big issue and something we have to resolve but stopping progress isn't an option either. We have some large problems with sustainability in our state. Texas has fewer FRC teams in 2014 than we did in 2011. Districts might not fix this problem, but what we're doing now isn't doing that much to fix it either. The eventual goal would be sustainable growth that includes high enough team densities in the west and the south to allow for district events in these areas. It would be very difficult for the regional model to ever expand that far and give those areas the benefits of local events. In fact Austin doesn't even have a local in season event. Wouldn't having one Austin District and one San Antonio District greatly reduce costs and time for teams like yours?
We have a lot of problems to solve and long way to go before districts come into Texas but in the end I believe will be able to give teams a better value and a better experience by moving to a district model.