I think FIRST had to do smoething in order to cut down on people, because too many people will also break a fire code and it would look really bad for the Fire Dept. to come and shut down Nats. So FIRST did what they had to do.
To all of you odd number teams who are saying you can't go to Nats and having to break the news to your team, YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE!! Don't lose hope, you can still do very well at regionals and have a chance to go. If you're not able to go to Nats, try going to two regionals, sure it won't be the same but it will be better than nothing.
Two regionals brings up another question. If you register for two regionals, then find out you can go to Nats, what happens if you had two competitions in your budget, and the second regional you win and have the chance to go to Nats, what happens then?(I hope you understand my question
FIRST could cut down, is to limit the number of people from each team allowed to go, like give the team a limit as to how many people to bring, is that a good idea??