[EricH]

It looks like what they're trying to do is as follows:

A) minimize costs. I think the main reason teams drop out (other than fragmenting/combining) is cost. $6000 is a lot; another $4000 per event is worse for many schools (who also have to pay teachers, custodians, and administrators). Not having school support is worse. I think FIRST is trying to avoid future cost increases as much as possible.

B) level the playing field a little bit. The extra competition time pays off every year. It's better than the seeding match algorithm last year.

C) give the rookies a chance at "hardware" that is likely to go to veteran teams at any event that is not completely rookies. There is a possibility that teams will get more support if they have something to show for the support.

I'll be interested to see how this turns out. I've seen or heard of some few "power rookies" (rookies that are acting like second or third year teams, and second-year teams that act far older on the field), but they tend to be few and far between. This could increase the number of strong early teams.