[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by rick.oliver

If the objective is to provide more teams the opportunity to participate in the elimination rounds, then it would seem logical to require that all four teams in each alliance play a match in each round. Otherwise, simply use the stand-by system.

If however, there is a different objective, say wanting to ensure that each alliance has the ability to execute their desired strategy by having a known "spare", then perhaps what was executed last year better serves that purpose.

Teams knew going in that the 4th pick might not play and that it was totally up to the alliance captain. The change was made to let the alliance determine who their back up could be, instead of relying on the ranked order of teams. A team always had the option to say "graciously decline" if they did not like the idea of watching but not playing. Many of the 4th teams felt they contributed to their alliance with strategy, spare parts and other means, even if they did not get onto the field.