Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Kolodziej
We're already sacrificing the stadium feel. It seems that most people are still unaware that in the original announcement it clearly says that all matches will be played in the convention centers. The stadiums are only for the opening and closing ceremonies. This is what I wanted to ask about at the town hall meeting but got cut off - I was able to talk to Done Bossi about it afterwards and he said currently only St. Louis and Atlanta are able to handle the current setup of pits in convention center and matches in an attached dome, and Atlanta is about to build a new stadium so its not an option. I specifically asked then how they intend to have 20,000 people watch the Einstein matches in a convention center (because in 2011 the division fields in the convention center were awful and didn't have enough room for their own teams) and he said they are working on a solution to that.
They want to give the experience to more teams. Playing matches in and never leaving the convention center is NOT the championship experience. Walking into the stadium this year and seeing all 8 fields under one roof was one of the best images I've seen in FIRST. Enjoy it next year - you'll never see it again if this continues the way it currently is.
|
Wow, I can't believe I missed this before. This is just completely unacceptable.
They have stated they want to bring the "Championship Experience" to as many teams as possible, but to them the stadium really isn't essential to the championship experience? Have they no memory of 2011, how crowded the stands got, how unhappy people were that they didn't get to play in the Dome very much?
One of the only arguments I've seen against making DCMPs / "Super Regionals" a more champs-like experience is that you don't get the big event feel and importance of the stadium feel for Champs. If we are seriously going to be having World Champs take place on some mobile bleachers in a convention center, it's very hard to believe that we're going to have any more "magic" at Champs than we would at a DCMP event.
How can this be about preserving the championship experience if they are taking out one of the most iconic things that makes Champs what it is? This is a massive disappointment that weakens the Champs experience for absolutely everyone.
Put aside the "no true winner" argument for a bit (I'm really concerned they'll just fly the two winning alliances somewhere for a weekend to quiet this concern without changing anything else...), this is what outrages me the most. I thought the posts calling 2016 "the final Championship" were a bit of an exaggeration, until now...