I think New England should be the next region to go to District system because it already has the elements in place. ~ 100 teams in an area (NH VT MA CT RI & ME) with less area than MI (and most of that is ME). 4 Regionals currently and loads of experienced volunteers and FIRST HQ (which will get a chance to closely study district model first hand). CT regional is big enough and late enough in the season to be the the championship. Other 3 regional GSR, WPI, Boston become districts and you need 2 more districts (RI and maybe a second Boston district).
I am in favour of the district system for my area, Mid Atlantic, but drawing lines though the middle of states (and established regionals) is a difficult task to get correct and needs further study. You pretty much have to make multiple districts at once and split states. They to need make a proposal to teams, get feedback and adjust. I agree there needs to be line separating east/west NY, PA, and maybe MD & VA and that is the line to start with (I'll miss FLR
).
I hope they bring the Bag & Tag system to all regionals next (which looks like the way it is going). They could adjust the B&T hours for 3 day events because it would be difficult for larger events to be 2 days. The 3 day events should try to start qualifiers on Thurs like MSC and CMP.