Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto
It's probably been brought up before, but FIRST won't let this happen. The reason a DCMP isn't free was FIRST's decision. Charging 4k for a DCMP makes up for the fact that FIRST doesn't see 4k second regional registrations from teams in a District area.
FIRST counts on netting an extra 4k from a certain percentage (~35%) of Regional teams for second plays, just like FIRST counts netting an extra 4k from District teams for the DCMP (which happens to come out to 30-40% of teams in a given district).
Much of FIRST's operating budget is funded by FRC teams (FTC and FLL do not provide revenue to FIRST at the same level), so I don't expect to get a cheaper second play unless we go to districts.
I expect that FIRST will continue to count on netting 5-6k from all FRC teams, 4k from relatively fixed percentage (30-40%) of those teams, and 4 million dollars from FRC teams for #2champs.
-Mike
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So I think I understand why FIRST won't open up Districts to teams from Regionals. If they allowed this, teams that had been attending 2+ Regionals would try and switch to a cheaper District event, even if it meant they couldn't actually qualify in their district "practice" event. This would mean FIRST would be earning less revenue, and the quality of play in both the Regionals and Districts might suffer.
Not entirely sure about that last statement, but I could see it happening.
However, as has been mentioned, there are teams that cannot afford a second Regional, but could afford an additional District event. In this case, if only teams that registered for one Regional qualified to pick up any leftover District spots, FIRST would, theoretically, see an increase in revenue. This should also increase level of play at the Regional level.
Again, take that last statement with a grain of salt.
Is there any chance of FIRST considering this? Now at this point in time, there would probably only be a minuscule amount of teams able to take advantage of this. But as FIRST continues its transition to Districts over the next decade, it might be extremely beneficial to allow teams from Regionals to begin blending into Districts.
Just my thoughts on the matter.