[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Except, at its core, FIRST is not a robotics competition.

But FRC is a robotics competition. It's in the name, right there, after the word FIRST. You can't just use FIRST and FRC as interchangeable terms in order to say a robotics competition isn't a robotics competition. These aren't FIRST District Championship events, these are FRC District Championship events. Yes, the mission of the FIRST organization as a whole is separate from "hold a robotics competition", but FRC, one of FIRST's vehicles for executing its mission, is a robotics competition. It's not unreasonable for people to suggest that we make changes to make the robotics competition aspect better, and it's belittling to dismiss any suggestion of change out of hand by insisting FRC isn't what it is.

Getting all of the programs together to inspire each other, bringing in colleges from around the world to talk with students about their future, having technology companies on hand getting immersed with the event, hosting conferences to help spread knowledge... those are all a big part of FIRST's core, and I HIGHLY doubt DCMP's come anywhere close to CMP when it comes to those things.

Honest question: Have you ever been to a district championship? Other than it not being an international event (obviously), I'm not sure this is true. Lots of these aspects of CMP are already present at DCMPs. Some DCMPs have FLL / FTC demos there. Many have the involvement of dozens of technology companies. Some have conferences, and these could easily be expanded. As for whatever aspects of Champs aren't already strongly present at DCMP, there's nothing stopping local organizers from tailoring their DCMP experiences to get closer to that actual "Championship experience". We can make things better, if we're willing to consider changing at all...