[Donut]

Originally Posted by dangerousdave

The domes are built primarily to house a football field in. The new Univ. of Phoenix Stadium has a retractable side and field but I don't think there is a convention center next to it that could house the pits. Of course the competition could be moved outside of the USA but not likely anytime soon.

Since we bring up Phoenix, I thought I'd clarify that we do have the Phoenix Coyotes Arena sharing the same parking lot, and they're currently finding stores to add to the mall there. However there still aren't alot of hotels withint walking distance, and the public transportation system here is less than stellar (a light rail system will eventually go from the airport to the stadium, but not until 2016). Anyway, enough of that.

I'm surprised to see how many teams are at the Championships this year (376 pit spaces). I remember in 2004 when there were just 75 or 80 per division, and now we'll be up to 94 per division.

It will be interesting to watch the Championship over the next few years; if FIRST continues its trend of growing at rapid paces (300+ new teams a year) while retaining over 90% of veteran teams, the Championship process is going to have to adapt very quickly to a new system.