I think it would be a bad idea, just in terms of finances.
Some assumptions:
- Only teams that have not already qualified/registered win awards to send them to Atlanta.
- Registration is $5,000, travel is $1,000/person. (Just to make it easier)
- All qualifying teams send 4 people and a robot.
- There are 6 qualifying teams per event.
So, for one team sending four people, costs would be about $9,000.
$9,000 *6 (for one regional)= $54,000 per regional
$54,000 *36 regionals=$1,944,000 to send all the teams that qualify, plus about another $1000 per non-North American team (of which there would be 12--Israel and Brazil)=$1,956,000 all told.
Now, let's round to $2,000,000 (2 million) for ease of use. We will also assume a cap of 400 teams on the Championship.
2 scenarios:
1. The $2 million is divided among all the teams at entry. $2,000,000/1,000= $2,000 extra per team registration fee, putting the intitial money at $8,000 for the kit and one regional. I'm not sure how many teams would still survive.
2. The $2 million is divided among the teams that pay to go to Championships. 400-(36*6)= 184 paying teams. $2,000,000/184=$10,869 added. Ouch.
It is not financially feasable to do a "free ride" or even a substantial discount. Start fundraising now for next year if you can.