I've seen a significant amount of people complimenting the MI district structure on here and only about 1/4 of them actually experienced it...It's easy to say "yes districts would be great here," but it's not nearly that simple to implement and not everything about districts were positive. (Edit: Looking back this seems quite negative and wanted to clarify, I'm only pointing out the flaws because most of the thread has focused on the positives already.)
Yes having 4 events this year was nice (Kettering, Lansing, MSC, ATL), and getting a 2 for 1 deal on the districts was cool, but what does downsizing do to the quality of the event.
I've always liked "quality over quantity" and MSC was a perfect example of quality, but the fact that MI was dominated by 2 teams who won every event they attended in MI is slightly dissapointing to me. The pool of 40 teams does not provide a deep enough selection to hope to challenge such an alliance, and there 3rd pick could have been anyone (no offense to any teams who were there I'm sure you contributed). MI alone is strong in teams, but the midwest is amazing, and cutting out teams like 71 and 111 who are always welcome at WMR is somewhat saddening. I saw the same number of robots in the 2 districts and MSC that I would have at two regionals because teams that select the closest district just play their neighbors over again.
The event size was dissapointing, and space (especially at Kettering) was limited. There was not nearly the amount of excitement from teams that I'm used to at FIRST competitions, not to say it wasn't high, but 40 teams can't compare to 60...
Thursday RIP. You will be missed.
Increased event count also means extra school/work missed. Yes you gain back your Thursday, but the 8 hour bagtime from Sunday-Thursday sucks up the time you would have spent studying anyway. Overall it is better for adults, and about even per competition for students, but it is still an extra competition. I know spring break really messed me up this year. Thursday, Friday before break - MSC, 1 week break, come back on a Tuesday in time to get my homework, then Tuesday night get on a bus and miss 3 more days of school...I'm finally caught up as of today.
Overall I have to give FiM credit, they put together a great, different, but successful structure and the extra matches were well worth the exact same cost
As far as districts expanding (I figured I should cover the topic of the thread too), it has basically been said by all those who aren't in MI. If you want districts
let someone know. FIRST is exceptional in feedback and helping students get out of the experience exactly what they want. The determinant of who the next victims will be is going to be based on numerous things that have already been mentioned. Team density, volunteer supply, enthusiam of both of the forementioned (without that the willingness to experiment you won't be the next target), venue availability (shouldn't be a problem), people willing to put it all together (thank God for them).
Good luck to whoever is next (if anyone), we'll just have to wait and see...