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Originally Posted by hardcopi
The problem is the grants that Michigan has given to get the teams started are starting to dry up going forward. We have ended up with a ton of teams, but are (once again at least in my area) starting to run out of sponsor organizations. In 2014 we had a budget of nearly $50,000 and were able to expand nicely, but this past year we were down to around $15,000. We are competing on locally with more and more teams for the same funds. If there is a drop off in Michigan's competitiveness then this might be part of it.
Another part of it could be the sheer number of high numbered teams at each event. How many times do Michigan teams end up with an all rookie alliance? It can make for exciting times, but it can also skew results kind of dramatically in some cases.
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There is a lot of truth to this. I was talking about this with a couple of mentors from other teams and the consensus was that Michigan is going to see contraction without the continuation of the state grant money. The unprecedented growth we've had has been a direct result of that money, and a lot of the teams that were making their living on those grants never learned to be self-sustaining.
That is always the problem with fast growth. The upside is that we've also gotten a lot of people involved who want to stay involved. That will help drive some of these teams to learn to do what needs to be done to make themselves solvent.
Our events have been significantly watered down because of the large influx of newer member teams. In the past you were guaranteed to have at least two powerhouses at each event. Now we're seeing many events with teams who are making their own names.
With regards to the overall competitiveness of Michigan, I wouldn't say our competitiveness has really dropped. I think the competition has stepped it up in other places. Teams like Poofs, Citrus, Simbotics, OP, Wranglers, Robonauts and others are making robots now that are physically impossible for many other teams to make. The expertise in terms of manufacturing and coding simply isn't there. They are sharing their abilities with their local teams and bringing up their competitors.
We also had international competitors on Einstein. I expect to see those numbers increase quickly as well.