Thread: How big will FIRST ever get?
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Unread 04-11-2003, 11:37
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Bill Beatty Bill Beatty is offline
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Growth
Raul

Assuming that the basic configuration of FIRST remains relatively unchanged, I think you might be too optimistic. As the bar continues to raise, it will require greater and greater resources to be competitive. I believe that this will cause the weeding out process to increase and I think that equilibrium will be reached below 2000 teams.

I discussed this with some of the FIRST folks at the forum this summer and suggested having a minor league where the costs would be lower and thereby appeal to a larger group of participants (similar to the CDI or the BEST competition). The reply surprised me in that at the present time FIRST is not interested in attacking the masses because they fear that they will choke on too rapid of growth. Their present direction is to keep the major league and thereby controlling the growth rate to a level that they feel they can handle.

FIRST has proven to be resilient and flexible, so it will be interesting to see how this whole situation plays out over the coming years.

Bill
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