While thinking a lot about the district-level competition model and how it would effect teams, I had an idea earlier today about how it might prove to be expandable across the country, while still being a compromise solution between those teams who think more local events is the answer and the teams who believe the inspiration comes from fewer, yet larger Regionals.
The first 2-4 weeks of the competition season is local, district-level events limited to teams within 250 or so miles (actual distance varies by region). The last 3-4 weeks of the competition season is Regionals, exactly as they are structured now (free for any team to apply to). There may be an overlap of 1-2 weeks in the middle of the season.
Each portion of the country can also decide when their Regionals grow to capacity whether they would like to create a Double or Super Regional, start a new Regional, or start two district-level events. The ultimate choice should be up to the teams in that region (law of supply and demand) - let them choose/vote on what they would like most.
With a team's initial registration fee, they can choose whether they want to apply that towards two local district events or for a single regional and bypass the district-level events. Teams can only sign up for a maximum of two local events, but have no restriction on number of Regionals (other than the number of weeks in the competition season).
For regions with a lot of teams, and not enough full-scale regionals to support them, allow about 1/2 of the slots at that regional to be "open" for any team from any state to apply to. The other 1/2 is for the teams who win local district-level competitions (winning alliance, EI, and Chairman's) and receive a spot to compete at that regional.
Since none of the money paid to FIRST goes to actually supporting and running the local Regionals (who have to rely on their own sponsorship fundraising), it technically should be free for a team to compete at a district-level event and win a spot and (and compete) at its corresponding regional. However, if a team wins two district-level events, they can only use their "free" regional once, since both of the district-level events should be feeders for the same Regional.
The Championships would be structured the same as they are now: a large amount of "open" registration in the fall, with enough spots left over for the winning teams at Regionals. Winning at district-level events does not qualify a team for any spot at the Championships, however a team may use their initial registration money for two district-level events and also register for the Championships during the open registration period.
Obviously this is still an idea, and is not perfect, and is completely open for debate. But what it does do is initiate a
compromise solution where everyone gives a little, yet ultimately benefits as many teams as possible.