[iVanDuzer]

I believe my ideal solution (posted above) addresses a lot of these points by emphasizing multiple, local "second tier" "Super-Regional" Championships.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

1) Prestige - One event would mean more, it'd be where the sponsors put out their A game because, let's be honest, the top tier teams more than likely spend more and push equipment harder. Recruiters and media would be more likely to be in attendance. And sponsors would want their names associated with the A champs instead of redemption.

Local sponsors and local universities can advertise at their local Super Regional. For example, I've walked up and down Scholarship Row at St Louis, and I have never seen a single Canadian University there, despite many offering FIRST-specific scholarships (York, Waterloo, Western, Windsor for sure - I'm not really looking for scholarships anymore so I don't know what's out there). There would be space for these schools at a hypothetical Canada / Michigan / New York Super-Regional.

Similar case for local sponsors. There's not really an incentive for a corporation located almost entirely in Michigan to pay for an event in Missouri, but put a big event next door and they might be interested.

Since these local schools and sponsors no longer need to compete with the "big dogs" for advertising and/or speech time at Champs, they get to be headliners at these smaller, more local events. I would hazard a guess that, if FIRST ran with multiple Super Regionals, they would see an influx of sponsors (especially if their sponsorship scale shifted accordingly).

Alternatively, FIRST could allocate money spent for Champs towards the Super-Regionals. Sort of a "if you want to sponsor our Big Show, you have to also help our Slightly Smaller Show" deal. This definitely isn't an ideal situation, but it is a model that is used.

2) Qualifying - Teams would be offended they were "relegated" to B Champ. And how would you determine it? Would it be 3rd picks? EI/RaS winners? Point System? None of those are completely fair. And where do CA winners end up?

There would be basically three types of teams at these Super Regionals:

1) Teams in the ~30 Percentile who wouldn't make it to Champs, regardless of whether we're using the current model or the Championsplit (FIRST wants 25% of FRC teams each year, but as shown elsewhere in this thread, having a Champs with 25% of all FRC means having a ton of repeats, so very few teams make it every four years anyways). These teams should jump at the opportunity to have post-season play and a Champs experience.

2) The Teams that should be at Champs but don't quite make it. These are the "redemption" teams. As the system currently stands, these are the teams that make it to the finals and lose, while missing out on Wildcard spots. The current reactions can either be unmotivating disappointment (we tried so hard but didn't make it, what's the point?) or motivation (we came so close, and we'll make it next year). In either case, the existence of a lower-tier Championship does nothing to change this current dichotomy, so I would argue it's a moot point: some teams will be disappointed, other teams will come out guns a-blazing trying to prove they're a force to be reckoned with.

Sidenote, generally speaking, the teams that make the biggest splashes at IRI are the ones who feel "shafted" at Champs. For example, 2056 winning in 2014 after being knocked out in the QF (their worst showing). Or 469, who put on a clinic on winning in 2010 after losing on Einstein with arguably the best robot ever built for an FRC game. This would apparently support my idea that most teams would jump at the opportunity for redemption.

3) The "Non-competitive" teams. The third picks, the "carried" robots, the RAS, the Engineering Inspiration winners that don't have a "competitive" robot. This is the only group that would feel "offended" that they're at this event, I think. However, winning an event could still net a butt-load of points that, paired with a decent qualification record, would be worth a ticket to Worlds.

In terms of qualification, one of the things I like most about the District system is the points system, so I would love to adapt a points system to the Regional Model. In terms of Chairman's, I would love to say "all Chairman's Teams should end up at the Tier One Event." I think that winning Chairman's would net a bunch of points, but unless you have a semi-decent robot (say, Semi-Finals at a regional, OR decent seeding, depending on how the points work out), then you wouldn't qualify for the Championship Event. A similar structure should be implemented for RAS and EI, although they'd need better on-field performance to qualify. Basically, winning any of these big awards should make it easier for you to get into the top-tier event. I firmly believe in the worth and value that Chairman's, RAS, and EI teams bring to the Championship event.

In terms of accidentally stopping a Chairman's team who would win the CCA from attending Worlds... this is again another issue. BUT I don't think it's a huge issue, given that, traditionally, the Hall of Fame teams are competitive on the field as well and generally would have an easy time qualifying even without their automatic HoF status.

Additionally, teams that qualify "twice" should probably get an automatic invite to the top event. This includes multiple event winners, but also teams that win Chairman's at their first regional, and then EI at their second, or a rookie that wins multiple RAS. Or a team that wins an event and also wins Chairman's. These teams would probably have qualified anyways, but it's good to solidify their place.

One issue with a points system is that in Districts, you get points between two events. Until FIRST goes completely to districts, I think the point system should count for each team's most-successful event. Yes, this is unfair in favour of the teams that can afford to attend multiple events, but so is the current system. I think the best thing, in terms of fairness, would be for all of FIRST to convert to the District System, but until that happens, we have to work with imperfect systems.

The Districts would still use their current qualification model.

3) Locations - Part of the incentive for 2Champz is cost savings for teams (I think this is horse crap). This defeats it completely.

Right now the cost savings "excuse" is horse crap, I agree. But if FIRST were to expand the second-tier Championship model and include multiple second-tier champs, then the events would actually be local, and therefore would actually save teams money.

The locations for a 200 team event would be much easier to find. For example, such an event could be held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario (previous home of the Greater Toronto Regional). It would be very cozy, but the teams would probably fit. I would assume that there are plenty of other venues that would be good for a competition of this size scattered throughout Canada and the US.