[Lil' Lavery]

Not every region has seen the same stagnation in growth that MAR has. While, barring a game changer like the state funding Michigan has, the ~100 team mark seems to be the currently saturation level for the region, other regions have continued to grow. That's the reason why Championship qualification has become a contentious issue in the first place. FIRST bought themselves some more time by expanding the field to 600 teams, but they haven't really addressed the root cause yet or set a definite path for the qualificaiton method going forward. So far as we can tell, they want to keep the style of their premiere event the same, but even that is inference.