[AChattin]

For anyone who claims that teams have sustained success, or enough to reach the championships every year, let me show you the state of Indiana for a moment.

The best team in the state, year in and year out is team 234. If I had to pick a team that would be at champs every year, it would be them. In fact, going back to 2009, the only year they WEREN'T in Elims at champs was 2014, where they failed to qualify, despite having one of the best robots in the state. Is 234 now not allowed to go to champs in 2015? (where they made semifinals in their division).

Team 234 is the only team I would consider a "Tier 1" team, a team who is consistently at the very top every year.

That is the top, and most consistent team in the state of Indiana, as for the rest, teams have up and down years.

In the past 2 years, team 135 has won 3 events, and been an alliance captain at championships both years, in 2012, they weren't picked at one of their Regionals, and wouldn't be eligible. They improved in 2013, and were picked for eliminations at championships, which they wouldn't have been able to do in this format, and even then, would they even qualify for the "Real" Championships in 2014?

Team 447 had a great robot in 2013, winning an event and being a finalist in another, they then got to play with teams 118 and 610 at championships, I don't know about the general population of FIRST, but playing with dominant teams is inspirational to me, and it likely was for them.

Team 1024 has had a resurgence in the past 2 years, seeding high and winning the state championship in 2015. They reached the division semifinals this year, but they wouldn't have been able to in this format because last year, they didn't make champs with one of the best robots in the state.

QUALIFYING for champs with a regional system is "Fluky" and sometimes, the best teams don't make it, given that, is it fair to make teams ineligible to compete for a world championship next year, because of a fluke in the previous year? Or would people rather have a longer qualifying cycle where students may never get to compete for a championship at all?

And what about Rookie/ Sophomore teams? 5188 was the #2 pick in the state championship, would they be able to go? They were picked to be in eliminations, and wouldn't have been able to.

There are many more examples of teams that put together good robots nearly every year in Indiana, and sometimes the Pull out great ones, Teams like 45(2009), 71(2011), 829(2012), 868(2013), 1501(2010), and several other teams in the state that I am neglecting to mention.

What about senior-only programs? Should a team be disallowed from championships because a completely different set of students failed to qualify them for the "Premier" in a previous year?

What inspired me was working with the TOP teams at championships/IRI. I know if I was a student again, I wouldn't be nearly as inspired if I wasn't able to work with the ELITE teams.

Looking at a split champs system overall. Maybe some teams would be happy just to get a championship "Experience" but without teams like 1114, 16, 254, 118, and 148 just to name a few, It wouldn't feel the same to me.

Obviously I would prefer one large championship, but I realized one thing, competitively, 2 split championships are exactly the same as one big one, as long as you bring the champions together in a final series. Yes, the environment wouldn't be the same, bus as people want to name a champion, you're just adding more divisions. You wouldn't see every powerhouse team every year, which would be sad, but you would see some, which I believe for a "Tier 2" team would be far better than being at a "consolation" championship.