BAE SYSTEMS to hold a regional next year in Manchester,NH

[Team238-aholic]

MANCHVEGAS BABY!!!! I work at the Verizon Wireless...wahoooo...maybe I'll get like secret backstage passes...lol....or maybe I'll just end up serving food like I usually do....lol....OR MAYBE I'M JUST GOING TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Calender is already marked off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Matt Attallah]

Hey! We (still) need more! We need like 35. (Hey, the more-the merrier ) Mabye 1 in Pureto Rico (sp?) They are close, and I think they may have enough industry to support some teams. They are close enough, too, to Florida, and that whole southern region. Mabye 1 in Nevada... Ooooohhhhh, i can see it now. Dean riding on a Las Vegas street w/ a neon Segway, lol!!

HEY! A NEON SEGWAY!!! The 1st segway desiged for Las Vegas. Hahahaha, Dean riding a neon Segway, funny...

[calculusgoddess]

Originally posted by Team238-aholic
No...no more UTC....

As a 166 member who's been in on this, I never heard that UTC was out of the question. BAE will be a Northern New England Regional as far as I know.

UTC has been such a huge supporter (and CT has so many teams) that I see little possibility of them withdrawing that regional.

Just a thought.


--Jordan

[Lora Knepper]

I'm glad to see FIRST returning to it's hometown - although I love the UTC regional, nothing could compare to when I first started up in Manchester

But as Jordan said - I'm a litte curious about UTC. I thought it would come down to some serious financial problems for them to lose the NE regional at this point - so it makes me wonder if there is going to be an "Upper New England" and a "Lower New England".... but then to me, with Long Island AND New York City not that far away, it does seem to be a bit of overkill.

Personally, I'd like to see on in Tennessee or Kentucky so some teams can get a foothold out here.... and so I don't need to drive 8 hours to the nearest competition next year

[Harrison]

Originally posted by Joe Johnson
I suppose that we could get close to 25 regionals next year.
Salt Lake City
Windsor, Ontario
Montreal, Quebec
Vancouver, British Columbia

Of the Canadian cities mentioned I would expect the most likely to probably be one out in BC - Got eastern/central Canada with the Toronto one...Out west would make sense.

If not out in BC, probably montreal...Altho then first would have to deal with all the bi-lingual crap in Quebec...Altho I wouldn't put it past them.

I don't see one happening in Windsor - Toronto and the GLR are both too close, I think they want to see big regionals as well as a lot of them...Sticking one in windsor would definately take teams away from the GLR and Toronto (esp since each regional costs a team $4000...We're not all rich ).

[Ricky Q.]

A regional in Milwaukee would work, Miller Park could hold it...the plans just have to be set in motion....maybe itll happen...

[Bryan Lee]

Although I can't speak for UTC, I did do a little volunteering for them at the regional and I saw *no* indication that they would stop supporting the UTC regional. Heck they asked me to assist next year. If that isn't a positive indication, I don't know what is.

Speaking as a long time veteran of FIRST (6 years now), the growth of the number of teams (and therefore the number of people participating and supporting FIRST) has grown a lot. In my first year, the (and only) regional was here in Manchester, NH (different site though) and I thought the size and comraderie was terriffic.

Of course time change. The statement "as long as FIRST grows, we'll keep up" made at the kickoff 5 years ago by the Disney rep seems out of touch. I would have never imagined that a qualification scheme to attend EPCOT would have been put into place. In some ways it seems anti-FIRST. But I'm not here to bring up that topic, this is not the place for it. (Other places on the forum for that). With that in mind, the growth strategy has to be to emphasize the regionals. You already know of teams participating in multiple regionals and awarding regional Chairman's awards are right in line with that strategy. More people participate becuase the competition is more accessible and because the competition is more accessible, more people know about FIRST.

So let's stop the rumor right now that UTC will no longer host the NE Regional. They've hosted it for a number of years now and continue to do a great job. Each new regional being added complements each other and are in support of the goals of FIRST.

I can only hope that the next year affords our company the necessary time to make this regional worthy of being back in the city where it all began knowing the wonderful examples that companies like UTC, Motorola, and other regional sponsors have set.

Bryan

[Alfred Thompson]

I also expect there to be a UTC Regional in CT next year. The Newe England regional always fills up and that will only get worse as time goes on. A northern regional in NH and southern regional in CT just makes sense. I would not be surprised if one shows up in Boston at some point as well.
New Hampshire had 15 teams this year. But there are a number of schools who have had teams in the past that did not have them this year. I could see NH easily having 20 teams next year if the economy improves at all. That's almost half the number of teams at some of this years regionals. Add Vermont and Maine (both of which had very few teams this year but could be expected to have more next year) and you're pretty much there even without Mass which has a lot of teams; half of which might do to NH and half to CT.
UTC could fill up with CT, RI, PA some NY and half the MA teams.
And that doesn't even include the out of area teams who will want to come as a second regional.
Guess it's time to see if we can raise eenough money to go to two regionals next year. With no hotel costs for Manchester it becomes easier to think about. Bryan, BAE have any extra money?

[dlavery]

With the growth of the number of teams from Alaska, and the creation of a reasonable population of Canadian teams, we are within striking distance of something that I have been working on for three years: The FIRST Arctic Circle Regional!

Anyone for Fairbanks, Alaska, in Late March? It may not happen in 2003, but definitely by 2004!

-dave

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"The person who designed a robot that could act and think as well as your four-year-old would deserve a Nobel Prize. But there is no public recognition for bringing up several truly human beings."
- C. John Sommerville

[Harrison]

Originally posted by dlavery
With the growth of the number of teams from Alaska, and the creation of a reasonable population of Canadian teams, we are within striking distance of something that I have been working on for three years: The FIRST Arctic Circle Regional!

...What does the Canadian teams have to do w/ it? lol

Despite popular beliefe we do not all live in igloo's in the great white north.

Most Canadian teams in FIRST are near Toronto, which is only about 3000 miles from Alaska...

HOWEVER, I wouldn't mind going to alaska for a competiton...But it would cost a fair bit to go that far.

[Lora Knepper]

If FIRST decides Boston to be a venue sometime in the future, I only hope they wait until after the Commonwealth of Massachusetts gets their act together in respect to the "Big Dig". It's a mess in downtown now, and will be for a good while longer. If a regional was to be held in Boston itself, really, the only economical place I can think of would be the Fleet Center - which is in the HEART of all the construction happening right now with the Central Artery project. Not to mention hotels are high priced in the city, and to have enough rooms, you might have to make a decent trek south or west. If FIRST decides a MA regional needs to happen fairly soon, I'd say look at the Worcester Centrum myself

~ lora
former (at last!) Bostonian