I know that FIRST mentioned it would return to a more competitive competition this year, but I don't remember seeing an outright statement that they would be repeating the 2 vs. 2 format.
I noticed that only 160 spots have been used for Nationals so far. It could mean that FIRST is holding the remaining 128 spots for the teams that qualify during the 2002 Regionals. There are 5 "qualifying" awards at each Regional: Current year Regional Chairman’s Award winners (2002) (new award); Current year Technical Award winners at Regional Events (2002) (Driving Tomorrow’s Technology, Quality, Creativity and Leadership in Controls)
Plus, the alliance that wins the Regional gets a spot as well, so let's do the math.
128 spots = 17 regionals * (5 awards + Regional winners)
... carry the one, and you get ...
Regional winners = 2.53 (This must be like having 2.5 children
)
Anyway, I think this means that there will be 3 teams in an winning Regional alliance, 2 teams play in a match with one team as a backup. Because the number is less than 3, I think it is expected that some teams that already have spots will win some of the Regionals. That's not a far-fetched idea.
Or do you think that only 2 teams will be in the winning alliance?
-Jason