Quote:
Originally Posted by Karthik
- In 2016, 137 Ontario teams played 197 times before Champs, and spent $1,184,000.00 CAD in registration fees. This works out to $6,010.15 per play. (This was assuming an exchange rate of 1.28, which was a low estimate)
- In 2017, 137 Ontario teams will play at least 334 times before Champs, and will spend $1,207,500.00 CAD in registration fees. This works out to $3,615.327 per play.
$6000 vs. $3600 per play on average. That's a huge cost savings for Ontario teams. Also, a radical increase in the amount of plays teams will be getting. This means teams will have more chances to showcase and compete with robots, while also having more opportunities to learn and iterate. I do feel sympathy for the teams from remote areas who have incredible travel hardships to deal with. But hopefully FIRST Canada and our community can come up with solutions to help these teams be sustainable in our new model.
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You know, there's really nothing like seeing someone take an overall cost increase and sell it as a cost savings. From my point of view, there's a cost increase of $33,500 CAD in registration fees. I think it would be more fair to say that the cost of registration for a second play has dramatically decreased, but that second play is now mandatory. Before you had around 60 teams go for a second play (I don't know how many may have played more than 2, but lets assume none did for a minute), which means 77 teams did not go for a second play.
My question for those 77 teams is... why not? Was is registration cost alone? Total cost including travel? Time out of school/work? Lack of dedication/desire? For those 77 teams, does this change in pricing structure and event locations eliminate their reason for not attending two events, or cause them more headaches than they previously had?
The simple fact is, a change like this does make competition cheaper for some teams... but it also makes it more expensive for others. Are those others prepared for the additional fundraising needed?