New England District System Proposal

[PVCpirate]

NE FIRST has posted a proposal on their website detailing the New England District Model. There are a couple of differences from the Michigan and MAR systems, I wanted to see what others think about it.

Here's a link to the post: http://www.nefirst.org/2013/01/03/nefirstdistricts/

*NOTE* I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, someone please let me know if it should be in a different forum.

[Jay O'Donnell]

The main question I have is which venue in New England will they use to host at least 80 teams for the district championship. All of the current regionals in New England are the perfect size for 40-50 team regionals, but I can't see any venues that could comfortably hold 80 or more teams.

[Mark McLeod]

The District Championships aren't as large as all that.
Last year the number of teams attending each were:

• (64) teams at the FiM Championship
• (53) teams at the MAR Championship

So, if NE FIRST is similar to MAR, then the existing venues would support what is needed.
With the point system it's easy to restrict attendance to what the venue will support.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

The District Championships aren't as large as all that.
Last year the number of teams attending each were:

• (64) teams at the FiM Championship
• (53) teams at the MAR Championship

So, if NE FIRST is similar to MAR, then the existing venues would support what is needed.
With the point system it's easy to restrict attendance to what the venue will support.

From the proposal:
"We will expand the size to at least 80 teams, and provide two fields with the same amount of matches in other districts. The combined regional planning committees will form to become the District Championship Committee and bring the best that each NE event has to offer. Locations have not been decided as of this time."

I was very surprised to read this, it's a decent idea but I can't think of anywhere in New England with enough space.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

From the proposal:
"We will expand the size to at least 80 teams, ...

I figured "expand" meant they had to start with something smaller, but still a two field venue with pits probably means a convention center like Hartford, which does have plenty of room.

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I figured "expand" meant they had to start with something smaller, but still a two field venue with pits probably means a convention center like Hartford, which does have plenty of room.

After a facebook conversation on the NE FIRST page, it seems that you're right, the two field thing is part of their growth strategy.

[GaryVoshol]

FiM is up to 11 districts this year, over 200 teams.

So why, even based on last years numbers, does NE get to send 20% of their teams, MAR 12%, and FiM only 9%? And if you divide it by this year's counts, FiM is less than 9%.

When will FIRST recognize that FiM created an atmosphere for growth in teams, and allow more teams to advance? We'd be up to 5 regional events by now too.

[Littleboy]

Based on current teams, how many teams will be playing in this district system?

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Littleboy

Based on current teams, how many teams will be playing in this district system?

Looks like 154 in NH, VT, ME, MA, RI, CT

vs

• (209) FiM - 132 teams when they first started and settled on a 64 team district Championship
• (108?) MAR

[Littleboy]

Then how do they get so many more spots even though they have 55 less teams than us. They have 154 teams. We have 209 teams. Yet, they get 30 teams going to CMP but we only get 18.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Littleboy

Then how do they get so many more spots even though they have 55 less teams than us. They have 154 teams. We have 209 teams. Yet, they get 30 teams going to CMP but we only get 18.

It may be because New England will have had 5 regionals before going to districts, while Michigan had 3 at the time. Assuming you had the full six spots per regional that qualify for championships, those two numbers do make sense. Although I do agree that more teams in an area should have more qualifiers.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Littleboy

Then how do they get so many more spots even though they have 55 less teams than us. They have 154 teams. We have 209 teams. Yet, they get 30 teams going to CMP but we only get 18.

Maybe those championship slots are reserved for the dozen teams that will buy there way to the District Championship.

The District Championship will have a set of slots for open registration. 12 slots will be reserved for teams to sign up directly for the District Championship. These teams must also attend one district event but it allows for teams to plan ahead to travel. These slots are likely to follow FRC’s Championship Registration tiered system, where teams who have not attended in a few years get precedence over others. There will be an open waitlist.

[Bryce Paputa]

Originally Posted by Littleboy

Based on current teams, how many teams will be playing in this district system?

147.

What I find interesting is that the 147 team NE District sends 30 teams while the 190 team FiM District sends 18.

[IKE]

Its a good proposal. I would go as far as to say a really good proposal.

The exception I would have is that 30+ Championship slots would be going to a pool of 147 teams. If the Championship was by population I would thing that 147/2500(ish) *400=23.5 would be the reasonable number I would give NE. In other words I would give them 23 or 24 slots.

If 30 go to 147 teams, you have about a 1/5 chance. If 18/190 get to go, you have a worse than 1/10 chance...

************************************************** *****
Personally if I was FIRST I would give NE 24 slots if it was up to me.
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If I was NE, I would submit for the full 30 slots and have FIRST talk me down. I don't think 30 is an unreasonable number to request from a District Championship (MAR and FiM included).

[PVCpirate]

To be clear this is just a proposal and I would assume many of the details will change by the time the negotiations with FIRST are completed. I like the bigger district championship, I say the more teams who can attend the event the better.

Also, I have a question: does Michigan and/or MAR grant automatic slots at the District Championship for winners of District events like it says in the proposal?