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Originally Posted by KrazyCarl92
One point that I still don't see answered is why is this the lowest hanging fruit for making a higher impact "Championship Experience"? It takes a tremendous amount of resources to have a single FIRST Championship, and now they are trying to put on two Championships. That's going to put an incredible amount of stress on the volunteer pool for FRC, and quite frankly I anticipate it is unrealistic that these events will match the inspirational power of the single Championship.
FIRST could stand to do a much better job marketing, televising, and really bringing the Championship experience to many more people by putting together truly professional media coverage.
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I wonder if the leadership understands this comment. If they do, then they will be able to fix some problems and do the best job they can to make the experience everything it can be, and patch up some relationships in the process.
My initial emotional reaction to the two season finale events was intensely negative. After reading a little bit about things, I saw that there really was a problem for a lot of teams, and having two season finales might really be all about offering an affordable experience to more people.
A couple of things have happened since then that make me think, though, that they just don't understand the problem. One was the town hall presentation. If they had understood the problem, they never would have led with what they did. It's just a non-starter. It shows that they didn't understand their audience.
A second thing was my own championship experience, from a few hundred miles away. When the system for updating the match results went down, they didn't fix it or find an alternative. A way of posting scores and linking to that on a web site is not a major technological challenge in the 21st century, but First didn't seem to think it was important enough to get it done. (As an aside, thank you again, Blue Alliance)
It seems almost as if the leadership doesn't understand what they've got. They put together a fantastic backdrop for a fantastic event. Getting everything together, the stadium, the arrangements, the exhibits, the ceremonies, the concerts, that's all fantastic. No doubt such a major undertaking took a huge amount of their time, effort, and resources.
I have to wonder if they didn't forget what was the backdrop, and what was the event. Yes, all those things are great, and offering them to more people is a worthy goal, but they're the backdrop. Without the event, they wouldn't be so spectacular. They might even seem out of place.
We shall see, I suppose. If they come to understand the problem, I'm sure they'll find a way to make it great. I look forward to helping with a great event in Detroit. For those of you who are afraid of coming to my adopted home town, your fears are misplaced. We hosted a Super Bowl just a few years ago. We can do half of a First Championship, and with 350 teams from Michigan to draw from, there will be the best volunteer staff you could possibly imagine. See you there......Well, half of you, anyway.