[rpaulsen]

Hey Sam, thank you for bringing this topic up again. As a team administrator, the value add of the district model is certainly appealing. That being said, this has been a subject that I have kept tabs on for the last few years, and I do not expect NY to go District any time soon and am unsure if it even should. You are 100% correct that the hardest part of being a NY Metro team is the difficulty in participating in more than 1 event without travelling a great distance. While travel is not uncommon for many teams, it is particularly difficult in the NY Metro area as teams often struggle to find funding, and frankly it is impractical considering we have one of the densest concentrations of teams all of FIRST (something like 127 teams in a 35mi radius).

Honestly, at this point a 3 Regional event makes the most sense for the NY Metro area. Yes, it is unfortunate that this means that NY Metro teams will be spending $4000 more dollars to participate in two events than in a district model, but there extenuating circumstances that limit our ability to make that transition. KrazyCarl hits the nail on the head with one of Metro NY's most important considerations, we are one of the most popular regional events for international teams to attend. For example, we had the honor of hosting 12 international teams this year. This is an important opportunity for our students to interact with their peers from the world over, and it should be something that the NY Metro teams work to maintain.

Moving to a district model in the Metro NY area complicates this matter though there are a couple options. The simplest option in this situation would be to reserve a number of slots in the NY Metro Championship for international teams, though to my knowledge this is unprecedented and I think would create issues if not discontent among teams on the cusp of qualification.
A second idea could be to have a separate NY Metro district, while maintaining the NYC Regional. In this situation teams could choose to compete in either the standard NYC Regional at the Javits Center, the district events with a smaller district championship held separately from the Javits event, or both if they so choose. Oddly this actually becomes even more expensive, totalling a full $14000 for a team that participates in both the District, District Championship, and NYC Regional for a total of 4 events. I expect that in this situation, the NYC Regional would become more of a travel event, expanding its international and out-of-state participation. The Regional would probably lose some of its New Yorkness as lower funded NY Metro teams moved into the District. The problem here would be finding space, as there are few buildings with rooms large enough to host events. Furthermore, the district events would want to focus on spaces that have bleachers pre-installed, as their rental and assembly is one of the most onerous costs of an event.

Frankly, a third Regional Event would be the easiest option at this point, and preferably one north of the City. We are slowly building interest here in Westchester County, but to my knowledge there are no NY teams between Ossining and Hudson, NY, a distance of 85 miles. This means that there is only 1 team in the 9 counties between Albany and Westchester. Luckily, this as been taken into account with the work that is being done to bring a 3rd Regional event to the NY Metro Region. Yonkers, has just announced the first area offseason event, and Ossining and we here at New Rochelle have been talking with the RD's on more concrete ideas. As mentioned before, the Westchester County Center was considered, but recent research has shown that it cannot fit our needs.