[Rich Kressly]

Please also realize FIRST has very little bargaining power with any of the regional venues. All of these relationships are based on trust and the willingness of the venue to do something good for the community. For events on college campuses, spring break really is the only time it's even possible to hold such an event. Field houses and arenas are not only for sporting events and concerts, they are also the workplace for many many people each day and they are in use by students/faculty all throughout the day for many purposes. Practices, meetings, office work, weight rooms, the list goes on and on.

In order to pull off an event you not only need the space for field and pit, but you need a judges room, a chairman's award interview area, an animation viewing/judging area, an event office where the production team calls home base (creates/prints scripts, schedules, meets, etc), an area for volunteers, VIP space, concessions, caterers, perhaps a social. Add into that the notion that load-in for the event begins on Tuesday or Wednesday. You also need security, EMT's, the list gets even longer. Parking, all those busses and trucks with event and team equipment ... this is no small undertaking. For a university to allow this type of activity and make all of these arrangements while school is in session is nearly impossible.

This of course leaves the larger, professional arenas. In many cases this is a much more costly endeavor and a harder sell to people who are generally motivated by profit alone. Some cities pull this off with great success, but it's a small number.

There is no doubt FIRST is well aware of the crossover/proximity/date issues every year. When faced with the choice between having or not having an event, FIRST will always try to hold the event and give more students an opportunity.