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Unread 05-05-2016, 11:41
Greg Needel's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
Greg Needel Greg Needel is offline
REVving up for a new season
FRC #2848 (All-sparks)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
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Location: Dallas, TX
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Re: FRC rules around seating need to change.

Let me start out by saying I don't have the total answer to this, but it is something that FIRST needs to address. Over the years I have seen numerous terrible things happen as a result of trying to save seats including but not limited to : making kids cry, making adults argue, making adults cry, strategies involved in blocking access to exits and entrances, injuries from running, inadvertent tripping, etc. All just to try and get better seats.


Here are some sacrificial (beat them up all you want) ideas on things that could be done to help.

  • Control which doors will be open at what times and make an easy system of a zig zag line like amusement parks for entry through a single entry.
  • Tickets/assigned seats - teams put in the number of seats that each team needs and then a lottery happens to assign blocks of tickets. If teams want to swap tickets later so be it.
  • Auction or raffle the best seats for charity - big team that wants good seats let them pay for them.
  • Dedicated areas for x number of students per team (scouts) in the best section.
  • Sections for active playing teams only (they do this at championship and it could be done at regional events also)
  • Have sections dedicated to teams that want to win the spirit award and those who don't

I think generally this issue stems from the fact that teams take FRC events at different levels of seriousness. For some getting prime seats is about having the best spots for scouts which means better data and better event results. For others they just want good seats to see their robot play on the field. Both of these are fine, but they create situations where people act inappropriately, which in my opinion sets the tone of the event and defines the experience of many teams. (nobody wants to start their event by getting yelled at by the local power house team who feels like you are in the way).

I don't have a solution for this but how many years are we going to let people's experiences at event be influenced by something small and crappy like saving seats before it changes.
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Greg Needel│www.robogreg.com
Co-founder REV Robotics LLC www.REVrobotics.com
2014 FRC World Champions with 254, 469, & 74
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