[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I want to specifically emphasize the last point here. A point earned in Long Island and a point earned in Rochester would not really even mean the same thing. I don't think it's unfair to say Finger Lakes is typically a more competitive event than Long Island. In other districts, teams can travel / be reassigned to help even things out, but due to the geographic constraints here, few teams will travel from one to the other (and the teams that would are already good enough to qualify for DCMP).

I really think that two districts, or one district and one region merged into the other, is the way to go here. I would even be fine if NYC / LI teams could opt to get real district points from events in the surrounding 3 districts.

A point is a point no matter where it was earned. Either way the distribution of points is pretty much equivalent to the relative performance of the teams at a given event. Yes some events are more competitive than others but it does average out a bit because teams attend two events and there is a different mix of teams. Yes because of geography you will find a number of teams that attend the same two district events but there are also unique teams at those two events. For some teams different weeks work out better and for others they do want to travel and provide that experience to the students that may not get it otherwise. All told the points system does a good job of sending the best teams to the DCMP. Having a larger district does a better job of this.

If you want to talk about the distances being restrictive see the PNW district and my post near the beginning of this thread showing how much greater of an area we cover out here. I know that many parents in NYC may not have cars but how do other teams travel to their state championships? Does a football/basketball/baseball ect team decline their invitation to their respective state championships because parents do not have cars or does the team take a school bus?

For the fun of it I looked up the NYSPHSAA's championships.

For basketball it was located in Glen Falls this year. According to Google maps it is a 3:30 drive from NYC or a 4:30 by public transportation. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/New+...7837!1m0?hl=en Yes I know that there are problems with google maps and their times but for someone outside of the area they are the best available info.

For Football it was in Syracuse https://www.google.com/maps/dir/New+...3.036187?hl=en even further away in both distance and time from NYC yet still with a public transportation option, though it seems to me a school bus would be how a football team would get there.

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

Each district receives $1000 as a re-grant from FIRST for every team that registers. I assume PNW must tell FIRST to apply that $1000 towards the teams registration fees vs. sending it to the District. That would be a choice that the district makes given that they have the funds to support their annual expenses. Otherwise all teams pay $5K per FIRST's website. I don't have any contacts in PNW to confirm this, but since I'm involved in both Regional planning and District conversations with FIRST, this is my educated assumption.

Just trying to prevent mis-information about the fees from getting out there.

See above for how the billing works in PNW FIRST it is unique among the current Districts though the net is the same in that the initial registration fee for veteran teams is still $5000 and for rookie teams it is still $6000.

Originally Posted by plnyyanks

And these are the main reasons that two smaller district regions is emerging as the best option in my mind.

This year, Indiana proved that the district system could be successful with 50 teams. So we split NYC+LI into one district, and everything north of Westchester-ish into another. Each would require maybe 4 events + DCMP, and having them stay "local" would really minimize travel costs.

Plus, if inter-district play gets sorted out, then teams could still intermingle if they want, NYC+LI teams can compete in MAR, and upstate teams can go to New England events. That seems like the "everybody wins" scenario, even though it bring a new host of problems surrounding inter-district play.

I don't know that the dust has settled enough to say that the IN district was successful in all aspects of the reasons for the move to the District system.

As far as the running of the events and the fact that many teams got to play more matches and travel less then yes by all indications it certainly was a success.

The other reason for the switch to the District system is financial, running Regionals is very expensive and unsustainable as growth continues. So the question is was the IN district able to lower the total cost of the events vs what it was for the Regional it replaced. How does in-kind donations from AndyMark play into the total costs. For example I know that in the past AndyMark has stored and shipped fields for off-season events. So is AndyMark providing the receiving, storage and shipping functions for the IN district? Will a NYC district be able to find a company willing to do the same for them? Will they need to rent a warehouse like PNW does or use a company like Pods to handle the storage like MAR does. Do not get me wrong I'm not knocking anything that AndyMark may have done to make the IN district happen, just questioning if another mini-district could be financially successful without a company like AndyMark stepping up. There are economies of scale.

I know that the unified district points system was designed to allow the portability of district points for the long term. I suspect that in a few years teams will be able to travel to another district and bring the points earned there back home with them, assuming that it is not the 3rd play chronologically.