BIG!!! Championship Location in Question

[MBiddy]

In the middle of Arizona desert. With scorpions. Mmmmm, scorpions.

[Mike375]

I for one truly want the championship moved elsewhere. This really had to be a no-brainer for FIRST, since as costs of attending the national increase, the number of teams that can attend decrease. That simple fact stands against FIRST's mission to reach all students. While you could argue that a team can attend just a regional, I think all teams should have the opportunity to participate in the excitement of the national.

That being said, where could this year's championship wind up. The way i see it, there's two requirements, a giant empty parking lot and a lot of hotels nearby. The latter of the two requirements lead me to believe it would have to be in a major city. While I'd love to have a hometown national in NYC, having an outdoor field here would be tough, since April can still be a little chilly here. But I have this strange feeling we might end up in Washington DC. Theres a lot more media centered in DC, then in the swampland of FL, so I think media coverage would be greater, which seems to be a big concern to FIRST in all their writings as of late.

Now's the time for FIRST to say goodbye
To all our company
M-I-C - See ya never again!
K-E-Y - Why? Because you're so expensive!
M-O-U-S-E!!

-Mike 375

[Mike Rush]

Its funny you should mention DC as this was my first thought when seeing the 'Orlando' location removed from the website. I'm ready for a change... Can't wait to see the Smithsonian......

[Madison]

Originally posted by D.J. Fluck


Ive been told multiple times that Disneyland in California does not have the capacity to hold that many people and they dont have a venue that was as good as epcot...

Time to revive the alternate championship location thread??

Disneyland does not have any room at all. DJ's right.

Disneyland's former parking lot is now Disney's California Adventure, The Grand Californian Hotel, and and Downtown Disney. Parking is handled by several smaller satellite lots and a large "Mickey & Friends" parking structure.

However, the Anaheim Convention Center is across the street.

Again, I'll restate that I strongly believe that moving the Championship Event to any generic city, arena, or site will be severely detrimental to FIRST's 'mission'.

To involve as many students as possible, and especially as FIRST continues to grow, the organization needs as much exposure and support as possible. The scope of this isn't entirely evident to most everyone I've ever spoken to, and I'd anticipate that to be the case throughout the rest of the population. You can throw around numbers all you'd like, but there's very, very little that paints a clear picture of the true scope of the competition.

When you say, however, that FIRST is the largest event housed at Walt Disney World, you send that message loud and clear. Everybody knows where Walt Disney World is, everyone knows what it looks like, and everyone knows of the reputation (albeit faltering) for high quality, family-oriented entertainment and programming.

When you say that 450 teams from high schools across the nation (or world, for that matter), gather at RFK Stadium for a Championship event, it doesn't hold the same impact. Silverdome what? The Phoenix Convention center? Woop-dee-doo. There aren't many names that you can drop that are bigger than Walt Disney World.

[Joe Matt]

Name alone is good. I had a chance to go to DL and let me tell you that 10,000 kids there would mean utter gridlock. All of Disneyland Resort can fit neatly on the MK, Contempoaray, and the Seven Seas Lagoon.

[Christine G.]

How about holding it in Salt Lake City or Atlanta where the Olympics were held? They have the hotels and the space for ALL the teams without limiting the Championship to 290 teams.

Saying the Championship was held in the Olympic Village would definitely show how big FIRST is!

Just my 2 cents

[MattK]

I think we should have them @ Dean's house.

[Joel J]

<space>Hrm.. what if it was just a typo? I don't really care where they decide to hold the Championship Event, as long as its not in May. There you go, Joel being selfish..</space>

2003 Championships in Indianapolis....

enough said........


What other city has held people for the 3 largest and most famous races in the US and the Final 4, on multiple occasions....

o and not to mention the 2002 Host of the World Basketball Championships

[Madison]

Originally posted by Christine G.
How about holding it in Salt Lake City or Atlanta where the Olympics were held? They have the hotels and the space for ALL the teams without limiting the Championship to 290 teams.

Saying the Championship was held in the Olympic Village would definitely show how big FIRST is!

Just my 2 cents

...did you want to evict the people that are currently living in the Olympic villages?

Usually, Olympic venues are designed with the future in mind, and housing is demolished or used as, erm, housing. It doesn't sit vacant.

FIRST, as much as we'd like to think so, won't fill a stadium. Even the Championships.

[mtaman02]

I for one is hoping that it is held in FL but in another way hoping that it isn't. Yes its a rather expensive trip from SI to FL. Then Food and Hotel Accomodations etc... but in a way your getting your monies worth b/c u get to go to all the Disney amusement parks.


But in the long run I agree with Mike375. The championship should be moved from FL to either Salt Lake Utah Home of the 2002 Olympics or the what I call Media District Washington DC.

I to would like to see it held in NYC but... we don't have a huge parking lot anywhere and our hotels are scattered across the city.

Deans got a nice size amount of property. Lets have the Nationals in the home of the Kick-Off Event.

[Madison]

Originally posted by Team522 Captain

Deans got a nice size amount of property. Lets have the Nationals in the home of the Kick-Off Event.

Kick-Off was held in the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manch-vegas, not Dean's home. It used to be in his hangar, which, while impressive, isn't even large enough to house a regional; or a mini-competition, for that matter. His property is on a hillside :/

[mtaman02]

all dean has to do is pave a a nice size parking lot about half the size of NH put up a stadium for about 6 stages and put up nearly 300 30 story hotels.

Too much money huh. asking for a wee bit too much.

still I say move it some where, where theres alot of media coverage. or move it to a near empty state. North Dakota or something. hehe.


I am the most selfish person when I see change. I like the way things were.

[Ashley Weed]

YIPPEE!!! Change the venue! NO more FL! Sorry, I don't like FL, northerners aren't fond of the heat, well at least not me. I could think of many places I would rather go than FL. I wouldn't mind a lot of them that have already been mentioned. I would even go to California if it meant I could see the Pacific and Disneyland!

[Joe Matt]

Everyone is saying that they should move it so it's cheeper. WRONG! It won't be. Everyone flies to FL for vacation, so the fairs are cheep. Nobody flies on vacation to here or there, or if they do, it will still be expensive. DC, although good, is still a huge city that would be jamed if 10,000 kids ran through it.

WDW is cheepest and handles the croweds the best period. No more questions.