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Unread 15-08-2001, 22:17
Jeff Waegelin's Avatar
Jeff Waegelin Jeff Waegelin is offline
El Jefe de 148
AKA: Midwest Refugee
FRC #0148 (Robowranglers)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Greenville, TX
Posts: 3,132
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My $0.02

The only problem with FIRST reserving rooms is team size. What happens to a large team that exceeds the allotted rooms? What do you do with small teams that don't use all their space? The obvious solution would be to give extra rooms to large teams except there are not enough really small teams to offset the really large teams.

I love the idea of having split nationals with a "Finals" competition based on performance, but I think that the logistical implications of such a move make any gains from such a move moot. It is all but impossible to make hotel and airfare plans for a family at short notice, let alone for a team of 30+ people.

Now..... If you space out the nationals and finals, you run into a third problem. Lack of excitement. If you don't wait long enough, you have scheduling and logistics problems. If you wait too long, you run the risk of diminished enthusiasm. Part of the thrill of the competition is in the frantic scramble from the final build week to nats. The constant rush to get ready, compete, repair, and compete again keeps the excitement going. If you wait until June to have the finals, teams in the finals get bored, and teams not in the finals lose interest, especially if the game is not as fun to watch. I for one would have found it hard to watch a finals competition this summer (Especially considering the domination of a certain team....). It just wasn't that fun, and one to two month's waiting would have killed the enthusiasm of Nationals.

So, now that I've given my $0.02 on the matter, i ask this: What could be done to make a split Nats (with or without Finals) as exciting as the current model, with the fewest problems?
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