[George1902]

There are plenty of Regionals now so all teams will get a chance to experience the spirit and excitement of a FIRST competition.

The Championship Event should be just that: a championship. Only the best of the best should be there. The Championships will be FIRST's best shot at mass-marketing themselves. They need great teams for great competition to get great TV broadcast offers.

That being said, I'd like to put on the table a system that would accomplish this in a fair manner. To be fair, we need a system that recognizes every way a team can excel in FIRST. I think these criteria do that:

1). Any team who played on an alliance that went to the Semifinals at any event. (This way you can't qualify just by being picked. You have to earn it with success in the elimination matches.)

2). Any team who finishes in the top XX% during the qualification rounds. (This number can be tweaked according to how many teams have registered in FIRST, how many regionals there are, and how much room there is at the Championship event.)

3.) Any team who wins a Regional Award. (This helps to emphasize the parts of FIRST that aren't about competition.)

4.) Any previous champions or Chairman's Award winners.

A team can prove they can win in the elims (1), they can prove they are good in the qualification rounds (2), they can prove that they are good at some other aspect of FIRST (3), or they already have proven themselves (4).

Even / odd is bad. I was never a fan of it, and I'm glad FIRST is considering discontinuing it. As far as general guidlines go, past Chairman's and Championship winners should get an exemption.

Looking at Ricksta's calculations, maybe only Regional Finalists should qualify. Oh well... We'll see, I guess.

Kudos and thanks to FIRST for asking our opinions!

George