Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
The problem with this comes down to expectations and bag and tag. A team leaving a week 1 regions that has no more events, may not bag their robot or prepare for champs in any way. Then, over a month later (here in MN it's likely a week 1/week 6 difference, with how out events are scheduled) we give them a "retroactive" wild card? Not only is their robot now illegal for having been unbagged all that time, they probably aren't prepared for it financially either. It just introduced a whole lot of uncertainty into the equation for teams.
The current system makes sure teams know what to expect when they leave their event. For regionals, you know if you earned a spot or not before you leave the venue. For districts, hopefully you'll have a good feel for your odds of making it to the district championship, although that can be a little up in the air (but you should know if it's definite, borderline, or no way). Teams on the waitlist know they are on the waitlist and are planning for the eventuality of getting selected.
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The problem with your argument is that it assumes nobody planned for something that would be known to exist. That's an easy problem to solve and it wouldn't affect many teams, especially when assuming that wildcards can still only go to the Finalist Alliance. I'm ignoring the District Points idea because I think actual districts will happen before that sort of change is made.
Basically, if a team is on the Finalist Alliance in their last event, have the head inspector tell them to bag their robot and keep an eye out, just in case. You'd know which teams could possibly get you a spot and where they'll be competing in the future, so you'd have a good idea what your chances might be.
Teams that qualify in Week 6 have to deal with the sudden cost of Champs as well, so having a couple weeks to prepare would be significantly easier if anything. If you don't end up qualifying you can just save the money for next year. Also, many companies will offer conditional donations/grants (eg. $5000 if you qualify for Championships).
I think the benefit of this is worth the effort in communication that is required. Instead of qualifying some unknown quantity from the waitlist or letting wildcards fall all the way to Semifinalists at late regionals, you get to qualify a Finalist.