[artdutra04]

I would like to remind everyone that this is the FIRST Championship Event, not the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship Event.

FLL and FTC both deserve their time to compete in the Georgia Dome. They work hard, and there is no reason they should have to "go play somewhere else so the big boys can play in the Dome". Kicking them out so FRC teams can get in a few extra matches seems like quite a selfish and ignorant decision.


As for the size of the divisions; these have remained constant for the past several years at 80-85 teams. I've been to the Championships for the past four years, and at least in 2005, there was 8 matches per team, and this seems like a good number to shoot for. If the fields are run very well, it should be possible to get in eight matches per team, though possibly extending Friday's matches another hour or so would be beneficial to account for field delays.

Making more fields in the Dome for FRC will not work for a variety of reasons, including space issues, audio noise pollution between fields, space for the crowds, and most importantly volunteers. It is really easy to get volunteers for positions like field resetting, but there are only so many "qualified" volunteers who can tackle all higher roles, like volunteer coordinating, announcers, emcees, etc.

Since six fields would not work very well on Einstein, eight would be needed. As such, trying to double the number of critical volunteers in Atlanta would be a nightmare.


For at least the next few years, the current configuration of the Championship Event will work. But once the number of regionals starts to exceed about 50 to 55, we'll probably need to look into "Regional Championships" which can feed into the Atlanta World Championships.