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Originally Posted by David Brinza
Yes, FIRST with >4,000 teams (a number WAY less than Dean's goal  ) will be a very different animal.
The number of regional events will grow, team waiting lists for popular regionals will grow, the qualification criteria for going the Championships will get tougher
Maybe FIRST will create Divisions or Classes
Perhaps "Super Regional Tournaments" (North, South, East, West?) will be held on the road to a Final Championship. That can add another two weeks or so to the competition season. |
FIRST already has a model for that - FLL. It's different, because there are no alliances on the field. But a parallel structure could be created.
In Michigan this year there were about 400 FLL teams. They competed in 14 regionals. 1/4 of the teams at each regional advanced to the State Tournamants (we had 2 this year; in effect Michigan is now 2 FLL states, SE Mich and N&W Mich.) One Champion winner was selected at both State Tournaments - the rough equivalent of Chairmans, but it involves game play, technical awards, research and community outreach. These Champions, plus those from other states and countries, were invited to the World Festival in Atlanta.
That model will probably have to be translated to FVC in a year or two.
Once the number of FRC regional winners exceeds the number of spaces available for the Championship, FRC will have to come up with a multi-tiered qualification scheme. Maybe 4 weeks of qualifying regionals, winners (more than just 6, criteria TBD) would advance to 2 weeks of super-regionals. Winners from those super-regionals would advance to the Championships. It would extend the competition season from the current 7-8 weeks to 10 or 11 weeks. It could create more travel costs.
The first step might be to limit teams to entering only one regional.
Yes, an expanded FIRST will look far different than it does today.