[barn34]

Originally Posted by Shifter

Not ideal, but a possible temporary solution until everyone has migrated to Districts...

World Championship: crowns undisputed FRC World Champion (which is important, especially to robot-centric FRC teams)

invitees*:

• Chairman's winners with robots ranked in the top 40% at their last event are invited (but have the option to choose to attend the World Festival instead) - approx 50 teams
• captain and first pick from each Regional winning alliance - approx 160 teams
• top 60% of teams qualifying through District Championships - approx 100 teams
• Engineering Inspiration winners (with robots ranked in the top 40% at their last event) - approx 60 teams
• Rookie All Stars (with robots ranked in the top 40% at their last event) - approx 30 teams

World Festival: crowns undisputed Chairman's Award Winner (which is important to all FRC teams)

invitees*:

• Chairman's winners (with robots ranked in the bottom 60% at their last event or those who choose to forego the World Championships) - approx 30 teams
• second pick from each Regional winning alliance - approx 80 teams
• bottom 40% of teams qualifying through District Championships - approx 70 teams
• Engineering Inspiration winners (with robots ranked in the bottom 60% at their last event) - approx 20 teams
• Rookie All Stars (with robots ranked in the bottom 60% at their last event) - approx 50 teams
• wait-listed teams (similar to the 2015 lottery) - approx 150 teams

Each year Detroit and Houston swap hosting of the Championship and the Festival.

Pros:
- eliminates "co-champions" issue
- at both events FLL and FTC can be present, compete and be inspired
- opportunity for teams at both events to meet others from around the world
- increases the level of competition at the Championship

Cons:
- does not address travel costs (makes it worse depending on the team and their location)
- is there a better way to divide teams from Districts - based on how they earned their points?
- what about teams that qualify in multiple categories?
- at each event Rookie All Star and EI are awarded at the division level only

*the number of teams shown in each category are rough estimates only. Someone more clever than I would have to confirm/adjust.

I've been quietly mulling over my thoughts on these developments and this is extremely close to the best compromising solutions I could come up with to the issues everyone has already discussed. Essentially a kind of NCAA and NIT breakdown between venues which make each event more competitive and inspiring for the team's in attendance, but with different focuses that highlight different awards and overall aspects of the competition and FIRST experience.

While not a perfect solution, I think there's enough good here to use this as foundational building blocks for a compromise that would potentially be an improvement for the overall championship experience and competition as a whole.