Here's a couple of suggestions for 2007 (as this "seat-saving ritual" seems to be more of an issue at the championships than at regionals).
1) Each team should mandate that 100% of their team IMMEDIATELY go to the stands and NOT "hover" around the pits at the beginning of each day. I know that the action is in the pit area, but it really doesn't help to have teammates hanging around. Doing that will create a good team spirit in the stands right away. Plus, the judges/safety people can't see your pit if 20+ of your own team members are haning around.
2) Each team should reserve their own "front row" for outside guests and actively be on the watch for families, young children and invite them to come down front and see the action. Definately the gracious thing to do! maybe even make-up signs "guests welcome" or "room available"...
3) Runners with match scouting forms traversing to the pits should have aisle seats and should NOT block/stand in the aisles. Also, in the USA, we drive on the right-hand side of the road, so people in aisles should abide by that traffic flow (maybe even tape some "up" and "down" arrows in the aisles.......my pet peeve was constantly zig-zagging left-right up the aisles while carrying the video camera, etc because people were coming down the "wrong" side of the road....Just a personal thing......
4) And....speaking of tape. I totally agree that teams should NOT ever be "taping-off" seats unless they're actively sitting in those seats. Use them or lose them or let others "borrow" your seats.
Yes, it's only gonna get more crowded in future years and we don't want FIRST to start to mandate even more rules. We can self-police this by coming up with good ideas besides taping-off sections. It's perfectly OK for FIRST themselves to cordon-off seats during the ceremonies for guests, award recipients, etc.
Hey, even better, how about having a "dignitary" section where guests for the currently-playing match can come and video/photo their match and then rotate-out with the next team? (not including the on-floor media rep.) There are lots of creative, positive ideas we can come up with....
