[Kevin Kolodziej]

I'm glad to see a lot of people talking about and interested in this topic. My quest began after 2015 Wisconsin Regional and Eric has picked up where I have been unable to.

Ideally, I could see the state championship rotating between UW locations - Milwaukee has the Klotsche Center, Oshkosh has the Kolf Center Fieldhouse, and I'm sure the other UW schools have suitable locations as well. Rental rates for those two arenas aren't bad at all, and if we can get the schools on board to donate, then it is even better.

Bradley Tech in Milwaukee would be suitable for a district event as well, but parking is a bit of a problem (no main lot, all street parking).

As much as I would love to see the state split and half go with IL and half go with MN, it just isn't going to happen. It's not a perfect solution for all teams - some of those remote teams that only go to one MN event would now likely have to travel two or three times to play in other parts of WI. Teams that current travel to a second regional could see savings for 2 districts + DCMP, depending on if they need to stay overnight for the second district or the DCMP (putting a district event in Oshkosh/Appleton, Milwaukee, and La Crosse puts two districts within 60 miles of all but a few teams).

Current 2 regional team costs:
$5000 first event
$4000 second event
$3500 travel to non local event (bus for 4 days)
$3000 hotel for non local event (3 nights)
Total: $15500

Potential 2 district team costs:
$5000 for two district events
$2000 travel to non local district (bus for 3 days)
$2000 hotel for non local district (2 nights)
Total: $9000
$5000 for DCMP
$3000 travel to DCMP
$2000 travel to DCMP
Additional $10000 with far travel/lodging needed for DCMP

There are situations where the cost does go up*, but the possibility of having the district events on Saturday/Sunday makes me super happy so I actually have some vacation days left for, you know, vacation! And the kids don't have to miss so much school then. I will absolutely step up as a key volunteer for the event my team doesn't go to and will certainly help out where I can elsewhere. There are a lot of volunteers within the state that are less active than they used to be (myself included).

*Keep in mind that teams are eligible for the $5000 grant in the future, so that extra cost may be easy to overcome. I can only anticipate that growth will accelerate now because of the grant. We have over 300 FLL teams in the state right now - those kids are looking for FRC teams to join.