[EricH]

Here's a proposal, just kind of at random. It'd make some things a smidgen tougher, but I think it could go a long way towards making things a little more interesting.

Assumption: FIRST backs away from their stated intent of geographic sorting of teams (corollary, they do it because an awful lot of teams think this is all about the competition).
Assumption: FIRST wants to have a top-tier and not-top-tier event. (See previous assumption.)
Given: FIRST wants to maximize inspiration.

Proposal: In addition to whatever base model is used, just as an example we'll use district points, each team earns some number of C.I. points (Championship Inspiration). C.I. points can be earned based on: Time since last championship visit, at the rate of +-X points/year; Winning certain awards, e.g. RCA and EI and the like; judges' nomination; HoF and Legacy status; I'm sure there could be other ways.

The championships now get names: Recognition and Inspiration. I'm sure y'all can guess where this is going.

Teams that qualify to attend via winning an event, or by points, are automatically assigned to Recognition--at first. That's when the fun begins. All CMP teams are sorted by their C.I. points. Any spots left in Recognition are filled from one end of the sorted list; all other teams go to Inspiration. First event "grand winner" (champion or CCA) gets to send representatives to the other if they want to.


The other trick that could be pulled with C.I. Points happens to be "balancing the inspiration", where you aim for "equal" inspiration at both events--but I think I know how that proposal would go over around here.