Quote:
Originally Posted by jpetito
Variables and outstanding obstacles:
* Corporate sponsorship: educate my ignorance-- teams go to two District events for the same entry price. Do the fees paid by teams fund their two venue plays, and the event contracting and facilities costs are covered? Or is there need for more cash, thus more fundraising?
* Going after sponsorship, as was done for the last few years for the LA Regional in Long Beach-- how do we coordinate not stepping on one another's outreach entreaties while we grub for the cash? The money pile is so enormous that I can visualize districts competing with one another for sponsors, not conducive to the Gracious Professionalism we aspire to.
*Event scheduling globally (within CA., with input by NV., AZ., HI., Chile, MEX) so as to avoid conflicts. These western states have their own ways of doing things...
We all despise more meetings. Looks like we have to have more meetings.
Joe Petito
Wind Turbine Mechanic
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In the Regional System all of your $5000 initial (and $4000) registration fee goes to FIRST HQ. The actual event costs are payed for with the funds raised by the RD. Note FIRST HQ does act as a back stop and will step in and provide the remaining funds for a Regional if there is a shortfall.
In the District System $1000 of your initial registration fee is given to the District and the district keeps all 3rd play $1000 registration fees.
The typical district event costs between $10k and $30k to produce while the typical Regional starts at $100~200K and can cost significantly more than that in places where the cost of the venue is high. The typical District Championship runs around the price of a Regional
This is what FIRST is talking about when they say that Districts are cheaper than Regionals. So putting on say 10 district events and a DCMP can cost about the same as putting on 2 Regionals. Note this does vary greatly because venue costs vary greatly as well.
Switching to the District System alleviates those stepped on toes since the fund raising is for the entire district instead of for what may be one of multiple Regionals which may have different RDs in a general geographic area. Note you will find that some districts events the host team may find a local sponsor to provide food, coffee, or bottled water for the volunteers.
Concerning scheduling you really only have to worry about the timing of the events in your District and do not have to worry about neighboring Districts or Regionals. Non District teams are not allowed to compete in a District event and the few teams that choose to do an inter-district play just have to figure out what works with the home events they wish to attend out of the available remaining spaces.
In the Regional system FIRST owns the fields so scheduling around other events so that a field is available in the area is important, as well as the desire to allow teams to compete at 2 events if desired. You don't want two Regionals in the same general area to happen on the same weekend.
With the district system the "normal sized" District typically owns two fields and it is common for 2 events to happen the same weekend. Smaller districts like IN will only have one field and one event per weekend while FiM has 3 or more events per weekend and the corresponding number of fields.