[KeeganP]

I wasn't at Champs last year, but I was in 2011 -- and i do remember it being very crowded. And this year, there are even more teams. I think that making a change is good. That said, I'm not sure this is the right way to do it.

The district system is great because it allows you to go to "regionals," and then a (district) championship. I like this system because it gives teams an opportunity to compete multiple times, and then attend a championship event, which could qualify them for the FRC World Championship.

What I don't like about this new layout, is that FIRST is now moving into an even more district-like system, but without the championship part. We now have the winners of district championships (and regionals) competing at two "Super Regionals" that have no ending championship. You instead end up with a set of winners from different sides of the globe, and don't know if 1114 or 254 (just an example) really is better than the other in a given year.

What FIRST should do, if they plan to follow through with this new format, is move these regional championships slightly sooner, and have a true world championship event afterward, even if it means fewer teams. I know I, and my team, are inspired by seeing the greatest robots each year competing, even if it is from home. The world champs could be smaller, but with all the presentation sessions streamed online. I feel that FIRST could embrace technology and really make the championships even better for all teams. Just because your team isn't competing at champs doesn't mean you can't learn a lot from watching it all -- and we're at a point today where we can use technology to bring all the action back home to teams very easily.

(Sorry this got so long...)