[ASmith1675]

I understand the impetus of trying to give as many teams as possible the championship experience. It makes sense to try to inspire as many teams as possible. All of these things are very positive outcomes of the proposed plan.

My fear (though details obviously have not been completely set in stone) is that this change will segregate the country. It would be weird to never even have the chance to interact with half the teams in the country.

Several solutions that have been proposed would help ease my fears. Allowing teams with the means to "opt in" to the other championship would at least allow some of the cross-pollination that the current model offers in droves.

I think the goal should be to move everyone to a district model and allow cross-district play. Districts would continue to feed in to a District Champ (or call it a Super-Regional), of which there would be 10-12. These then qualify teams for the World competition.

This allows team (if they have the means) to travel outside their districts to inspire others. It also allows teams on the borders of the districts to decide to play elsewhere that may be more financially feasible. (Teams in the UP of Michigan can choose to play in Wisconsin or Minnesota, or teams just over the Indiana border from Chicago could choose to play in Illinois).

Moving forward with the proposed model could put us in a situation where you are only able to see team from your district, or from your Championship group. This is the situation I would like to see avoided more than anything. The interaction between teams from different backgrounds and locations does more to propel ideas than anything else in my opinion. This type of interaction is done most effectively in person.