The problem with the current point driven system is that it is inherantly unfair to poorer teams. A team that can afford to go to 3 or 4 regionals would be three or four times as likely to qualify for nationals as a team that can only afford to go to one (and lets face it, including shipping, registration, travel, room, and board, attending an additional regional can be
very expensive).
The current system acts as more of a frequent flyer program than a fair ranking of skills. I know of no other sport which allows to to try to qualify for the championship as many times as you like, given the right amount of money.
A good registration system should remove the advantage to attending more than one regional. I'm not saying we should limit teams to one regional, or make the regionals truely for a single 'region,' but perhaps there are compromises, such as:
- "Champoinship points" could be divided by the number of regionals a team attends. In other words, it is the average number of points that count.
- Forget points, and just allow teams that either won a technical award or made it to the finals at one pre-specified "home" regional. In other words, teams can only attend one regional that counts, and the rest are just for fun (in the same way that the Chairman's Award can only be applied for at one regional). This runs into the problem of 'lame duck' teams who are at a non-counting regional, but I don't think it would be a major issue.
Of course, both these sugestions run into issues of fairness with teams that can only afford to attend "harder" regionals, but that is true of every sport, and it would still be much more fair than the current system. Plus, remaining spots could be randomly distributed, evening things out a bit.
I guess the only truely fair way to do nationals would be to either let everyone in that wants to go, or to base it purely on the even/odd or lottery system, but I can't see either happening.
P.S.: The issue of whether or not to automatically allow first year teams to go has been brought up here a few times, and while I can't speak for the other first year teams, I do know that one of the main goals for 190 each season is to qualify for the Championship through conventional means (and we have done so every year). I honestly don't think there would be much protest from 190 if the grandfather clause were removed.