[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

That's not NASA's fault. If they cut away at 6:30, that's 1/2 hour later than FIRST for scheduled the end of the finals and awards. List a reasonably accurate end-time, and NASA TV can show everything.

Yes, the NASA TV schedule (published on-line before the event) indicated that the coverage would end at 6:30pm (a half-hour later than last year). The nature of the FIRST Championship is such that an accurate end-time is almost impossible to predict. All four division championships must complete, so if any of them have multiple rounds that go to a third match, field errors, time-outs, etc. the time for the start of the Einstein matches will be delayed. Then there are speeches before the first Einstein match - even though the presentation by Dr. Tony Tether (Head of DARPA) was a bit long, it was very interesting and relevant to FIRST. The robot parade is a nice celebration for the division champions - it could be shorter, though. The awards that are interspersed between matches take time to present as well.

There are things that FIRST could do to speed things up at the Championship, but why? This is FIRST's big celebration - every individual, sponsor or team that wins an award (especially Chairman's) deserves the recognition they've earned. Ever since the "Heidi Bowl" in 1968, the major networks continue coverage of sporting events that overrun their timeslot until completion. Given NASA's major involvement with FIRST, NASA TV should be flexible enough to cover the event to completion, even if it runs more than an hour late.

If the cost of the satellite link the driver? Is staffing at NASA TV's control center a problem? I don't understand why the coverage cannot be extended until the event is over. Maybe someone in FIRST and/or NASA TV can explain the issue...