[GaryVoshol]

Beside having the volunteer base* and exiting the pre-existing contracts with venues, you have to consider the planning time. FiM had the whole concept down and ready to run by this time last year; it only required approval by FIRST. I don't know how many months of preparation went into getting to that stage. Certainly part of that time was spent coming up with the concept; now that that is done, other areas can work off of it. But it still takes a lot of time and commitments being made, and being made early. Unless some other areas were already working on going to districts and were waiting for this approval to announce it, there isn't time to organize it.

* - You need more than the normal volunteers like pit, queue, refs, field setup, etc. You also have to supply (or find ways to pay for) positions that would normally be FRC-supplied (e.g. FTA) and to replace Show Ready Events people.