[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I don't see the conflict between having a world championship and having a team in every high school. Can you explain with some facts (not unsubstantiated rhetoric) why you believe that to be the case?

Can you give me a substantiated example of a High School "World" Championship? Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Lacrosse, et al...?
Track and Field has "National" Championships, but they are conducted by many different organizations.
The only real "World Championships" are of Olympic proportion.

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I'm not sure how the lack of a national championship for most high school sports means FRC can't pull it off-- for one, if I remember correctly most sports aren't completely vertically and horizontally integrated like FRC is-- they don't have a national/world governing body that issues guidelines to teams from elementary to high school on starting and competing as a team in the broader sense of robotics. FIRST fills that role for us-- sure they partner with local organizations, but the advancement criteria are defined by FIRST.

"completely vertically and horizontally integrated like FRC" is unsubstantiated rhetoric, and hyperbolic as well. Have you seen the variety of teams in FRC?
Nonetheless, if anyone can do it, we can do it.

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I also don't see how increasing the build season length would increase growth, perhaps you could explain this to me?

This V

Originally Posted by Dragonking

Next year we will have 600 teams at champs representing about 3000 teams. If all high schools had a team there would be 30000 just in the US. How would a 6000 team world championship work.
I do agree that if anyone could pull it off it would be FIRST- a unified organization run by engineers.

There are ways to do it but if we get to the point where there are so many teams, it makes it extremely difficult to have a world championship that includes both the elite teams and the rookie/lower tier teams.

I think he's talking about increasing the length of competition season which would be necessary and has already been happening as FRC grows.

Math! Release the game in October, Build until End off Year Break, Six weeks of District/State/Province/Nation High School competitions in January/Feb. "Regional" competitions in March, World Championship in April.

Math! Hello Mentors / Volunteers. This will strain the organization.
High Schools will need to buy more deeply into this program to make a longer season work.

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

Also, regarding your question, which, if I read it correctly, looks like I can have growth and a world championship or no championship or growth, which seems contrary to your point.

I was asking people to prioritize. I do not like to think of this tradeoff.
I prefer both, but this thought has been bothering me.

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

The fact is there is always an opportunity cost. Right now, if what you are saying is that the cost of having a world championships is too high, I completely disagree with you. Perhaps my mind may change in the future (the future is such a funny place), but right now I don't see FIRST outgrowing a championship event in the near future.

I disagree with me too, though not "completely".
The future is a harsh mistress. TANSTAAFL