[Kevin Sevcik]

I can assure you that money isn't out there for everyone. Thankfully, my team isn't one of the ones strapped for cash, but I can easily envision teams that will have more difficulty than you can imagine raising extra funds.

Off the top of my head, there's the teams in Mexico and South America that are dependent on some very very generous sponsors. These teams are basically doomed if their sponsors fold, aren't willing to contribute extra money, or are actually offended enough by a 20% increase in fees (without any input from them or forum for them) to withdraw funding.

There are also teams in rural america. Population and income is rather sparse there, and it isn't a terribly high profile place to donate money. I note that you're in Worcester, MA, so you might be unfamiliar with this fact. This is pretty much ditto for inner-city teams or other teams that reside in economically disadvantaged areas. If there's little enough money in an area, there isn't going to be much forthcoming for a FIRST team. I know it's a negative sort of statement for these forums, but there are communities in this country where people simply can't afford to give much if anything.

Also, kids have school. That tends to take up a large chunk of time. I know the build season already puts a heck of a strain on our students' time, and that's just 8 weeks or so. Full FIRST mode year round could quite possibly kill them.

EDIT: Also, BEST is rapidly moving up in the world of control systems. DSP based programmable controllers are being rolled out and should be standard in a year or two.