Thread: The ideal place for the FRC Championships?
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Unread 22-07-2004, 18:43
Marc P. Marc P. is offline
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Re: The ideal place for the FRC Championships?
I'd argue 2 points for location of the Championship-

1) Travel- Plot the density of FIRST teams around the US, and pick a relatively centralized location relative to all the teams, so the majority of teams has the least distance to travel. This could mean midwestish, maybe even Ohio or Pennsylvania, or a bit farther south. I also don't like the idea of proximity to a relatively large tourist attraction, e.g. Disney, Six Flags, etc. Travel rates to more popular destinations tend to be a big higher, and lodging isn't cheap either, especially if we would be displacing otherwise regular customers for the 3 days we're there (most businesses don't like that). I also agree with Erin, it's much more difficult to hang out and meet new people at an amusement park. This past year in Atlanta I met a bunch of new people just hanging out, playing hacky-sack, and just wandering around a big open space full of FIRSTers.

2) Size- Disney is just plain too small for us now. I was at the championship in 2002, and it was a bit cramped. There are only so many teams you can fit into an air conditioned tent, and only so many people you can fit in the risers on each of the 3 (at the time) inside divisional fields, and it was very hot to sit in the crowd if your team was on Einstein. With something like the Georgia Dome, there's plenty of room for the crowd on each field, and plenty of room to grow in the future! If we needed to add 2 more divisions, the fields could be arranged to allow that to happen.