[Jim Zondag]

To comment on finances:

Many of the details of the financing of this project are not open for public discussion but I can tell you this:

A: The rest of FRC is NOT subsidising Michigan. The money we have from our sponsors and our teams will easily fund all of the Michigan Events in 2009.

B: Our events will be professional and plenty of resources are guaranteed to ensure this. The only major change is that Michigan now has the ability to do our own sourcing for venues and production support instead of having FIRST do all this.

C: Why would depending upon donations for venues and support make FRC less sustainable? Today, we must recruit major sponsors to pay for the high cost venues we are renting. This amounts to the same thing, i.e. someone needs to give us something. Now we are just asking for less cash per event. This is much MORE sustainable.

D: Most of the comments on this thread and CD in general come from generally successful teams. You represent a strong vocal minority. Many people love to travel and meet teams from other areas, etc. This is great, However, the fact remains that MOST teams only can afford a single FRC event per season, and MOST teams never leave their home region. This change will have a major impact on such teams and they are the majority. In the future, travel will still be possible, but choices will be limited. Today, FIRST already limits your choices when they schedule the events (If Denver and Phoenix are the same weekend, you can't do both!). 10 years ago, we used to get teams from the East and West coasts coming to Michigan. This almost never happens anymore. Why not? Cause it's cheaper to stay home and now there are more events closer to everyone's home. Essentially, creating more events means teams will less travel.