[EricH]

I'd say, 2 regionals and a bunch of offseasons. Offseasons are a great way to have fun, introduce new students (and faculty and sponsors) to the event without a lot of stress, and all that, but regionals tend to be more competitive and expose you to a wider variety of teams, all of whom can be learned from. The second regional will also give you more experience, should you qualify for Championships (and, for that matter, if money was really tight, you might be able to pull out of the second event and use the money to help with your Championship registration--but talk to the folks at FIRST on that one, I don't know anything about how to do that).