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Here's my take on the whole thing:
Teams that win Chairman's win it because of their team's philosophy and beliefs. These are things that are passed down from generation to generation of FIRSTers and are truly as much a part of a team as their name and number.
Teams that win Chairman's are more than a robotics team. They are good citizens. This is something that isn't rewarded enough in life, yet really should be. In my opinion, ANYTHING we can do to teach high-schoolers that being a good person is more important than winning at all costs is definately worth the cost--whatever that may be.
Teams that win Chairman's serve as a model of how other teams should try to behave. By bringing them to the championship each year, we can hope that some of their life philosophy will "rub off" on some of the newer teams.
Therefore, my vote is to allow Chairman's winners to come back as long as they want. Even 20 years from now, that will still only be 30 teams with guaranteed spots. Figure that about half of them will qualify in other ways each year, meaning that only leaves 15 spots taken because of Chairman's winners. Even once FIRST becomes so big that they can't continue with the even/odd thing and are forced to move to a more traditional qualifying system, I still believe Chairman's recipients should be allowed to go. It just makes sense.
--Rob
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