[Qbot2640]

Originally Posted by Leav

One ray of hope I can imagine in all this is that maybe FIRST could move back towards the super regional format in a few years by scaling back these events and adding back a true championship.

And then we would look back at the 2017-2020(?) as the dark ages of the big mistake.

My main concern now is how to "undo" this for 2021, in such a way that will continue to satisfy the FIRST objective mindset that told them this was a good idea. (Don't get me wrong - I'm still plenty peaved that my son's senior year will be a "half-championship" year if we get to go...and all the incoming Freshmen that year will get to experience nothing other than "half-championships" during their tenure.) But the real question and task becomes how to put the necessary changes in motion so that a switch from 800 FRC teams, plus the cumulative representation from the other programs back to whatever number a single venue can support will not be considered a backward step by either the teams or by FIRST. Further, while some incremental change would be necessary (universal districts, or something like that) there will also need to be some kind of major change for that season to either increase or at the very least maintain the number of teams gaining what FIRST is currently calling the "Championship Experience."*

I have a nagging feeling that something like a new government program was just created...and once it is created it won't go away.

*(By my math...607 FRC teams are receiving the full "Championship Experience" this year...thus 607 * x = 607x...in 2017 800 teams get half...thus 800 * .5x = 400x The Championsplit results in a 34.1% reduction in experience.)