[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

All,

First, thank you for your nominations in this thread. I'm honored. #corsetto2016

Second, Frank actually brought this up with me via email in May. This was my response:



Four months later, I'm in the same place. This group just isn't worth my time.

However, after some thought, I will recommend that the open slot be given to someone in PNW. I know, since almost 1/2 of FRC Teams can drive to Detroit, that teams on the West Coast will likely be assigned to Houston. However, both Split Champs Venues are even further from Seattle, Washington than St. Louis by car (by 3+ hours). Additionally, scheduling for a CMP with air travel during Week 8 is huge burden to district events. PNW is the only district I expect to HAVE to travel by airplane to either 2017 CMP. I think FIRST needs to work much more closely with PNW to make sure they don't get left out to dry. Side Note: Week 8 Houston CMP means California Districts are even more sunk...

Now, if FIRST is interested in starting a discussion group about the millions of dollars spent on expensive A/V productions at regional and CMP events on an annual basis, sign me up. There's a group that can make a difference and put millions of dollars back into the pockets of teams and educators Town Hall 2016 CMP? One can hope...

-Mike

I hadn't thought that one of the championships would be week 8. From the PNW, that would basically be impossible. I know in 2014 we ran a week 7 district championship, and getting booked for a week 9 world championship was hard. I personally liked the event being in week 7, but we moved it to week 6, and that did make it easier for teams to attend. We need to have a 3 week gap between district champs and worlds, especially if the amount of teams we send grows because of more teams at champs.

All 3 current venues for worlds are equally bad. A difference of 3 hours doesn't make a large difference when the drive is already 30+ hours. Plane costs already approach $600 per person, and thats with a 3 week gap. I think it was closer to $700 when there was only a 2 week gap.

I don't personally have the time to attend any of the meetings this fall, so I cannot apply, but I do agree that the PNW will have the hardest time with these changes, so the representative should be from here. We have alot of good mentors around here, so I'm sure we could find someone.