[GreyingJay]

Yes, I hope this is truly going to be a net positive for Ontario.

One big assumption I'm making is that this "around $7500 CAD" vs $5000 USD will resolve such that the costs work out to be the same - as has been the case for the US districts.

If so, then for many teams, there is either a positive impact or no impact.

If you already paid for and attended two Ontario regionals, then you can go to the same two events, but you've effectively only paid for one. Two events for the price of one.

If you only attended one Ontario regional, either due to cost or travel distance, you can still go to the same event for the same cost, and not attend a second district event. One event for the price of one. So you don't gain anything but you didn't lose anything either.

If you are a "top 60" Ontario team, then you will need to come up with "around $3000" on top of the "around $7500" to attend district champs, plus the added trip costs. However, if you were a team that previously attended two regionals anyway, then this added cost is still less than what you paid last year (minus the cost of a third trip) so you're getting 3 events for the price of 2.

Where it will hurt is a "top 60" team that only went to one regional last year, who will now be expected to pay for a trip to district championships, or forego their spot.

Where it will also hurt is any Ontario team that typically did not attend Ontario regionals due to distance and instead went to a regional elsewhere (say NY state). They will not have the option to do so this year. I do feel for those teams. We are kind of in that spot since Ottawa is closer to Montreal than it is Toronto. We were seriously considering going to the Montreal regional next year but that is no longer an option (unless we went after two district events).

Any World Champs expenses remain unchanged on top of all these competition expenses.