I don't know where to put this exactly, but i'll throw it up here. My vision is more long-term, seeing as I assume that the short-term aspects are already set in stone.This thread was created to deal with the short-term salvation and I think great ideas were raised, yet I think we should also look a little further over the horizon, since clearly FIRST changed their future plans. My long-term plan is similar to FIRST's previous version of expansion, with a little detail.
So, long-term, there are a few limitations on what I would try to plan for. The main issue, of course, is time. The season is limited for many reasons previously discussed in many different threads, and I assume that we would want to stay within the 9 week time frame. This is my main constraint, but I also try to think about money and time away from school.
I see everyone moving to districts. All district events will happen during weeks 1-4, where each team gets to play a maximum of 2 events. A team pays according to the amount of events they play. Should they play 2 events, their point total would equal the sum of points earned at both events. Should they select to play 1 event - their point total would be multiplied by two. I am assuming that teams play better as the season progresses, so they will be better during their second event. Should a team not be able to afford/schedule two events - they would be slightly hurt, but not horribly. The good teams will still make it to the next round of play, due to point multiplication.
Weeks 5-6 will hold the next level of competition: District Championships, similar to what happens today. Obviously, since EVERYONE is in districts then this can happen during the same time, where each District chooses the week it wants (to give the teams a break during week 5 OR week 6). I think any place with 50+ teams can move to the district system. Smaller places with few teams (China, Turkey etc.) will have to be handled separately. Not sure how yet.
Now comes the question regarding time and money. Another level of competition between District Champs and Worlds in week 7 means all teams participating need to travel and pay for playing, food and so on. Yet this seems to be a necessity long-term. Another option is to make BIG District Champs, yet even if there are many teams participating, a smaller amount of teams advances directly to Worlds rather than a bigger amount to the intermediate level - I think this is a question of time, money, and so on.
Should we have the Super Regionals, they should be a week 7 event. This allows 2 weeks to prepare for the week 9 Championship. A big advantage for these Super Regionals is that FIRST can just add more once a Region is big enough to split. Should we have big District Champs, they can be during weeks 6-7, instead of the 5-6 stated above. The Districts can also be split, should it be needed to maintain a decent sized championship (so that x% of the teams can attend the District Championship).
Finally, the World Championship can occur during week 9.
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While not solving the immediate issue (that coming up in 2 years), trying this out will help transition these two championship events to Super Regionals. If we don't want Super Regionals, then I guess we can use one of the previously mentioned solutions and ride them out until 2019.
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In terms of money, most teams in Districts go to anywhere between 2 (two District Events) to 5 (three District events, District Champs, World Champs) events. With this system, the most events a team can go to is 5 - two District events, District Champs, Super Regional, Worlds. So the payment should be roughly the same for competing.
In terms of travel... the Super Regional is probably a little further away than a third District Event, but not HORRIBLY so. Other than that it's a wash to the current situation.
In terms of the time of the competition season, we stay within the 9 week time frame, as described above.
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Granted, not all issues are solved here, but once we figure out the short-term ideas to bring up, we should also think long-term
