Split Champs in '17 and '18

[bdaroz]

In the press release announcing Qualcomm's sponsorship FIRST has confirmed multiple Championship events starting in 2017:

Save the date! The FIRST Championship will be held in:

Houston April 19-22, 2017 and St. Louis April 26-29, 2017 | Houston April 18-21, 2018 and Detroit April 25-28, 2018

Anyone have any information on how this will actually work?

[CalTran]

You have one championship in Houston, one in St. Louis. Then at the end of it all you now have 6 world champions, and assumedly 2 CCA teams.

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by CalTran

You have one championship in Houston, one in St. Louis. Then at the end of it all you now have 6 world champions, and assumedly 2 CCA teams.

8* world champions

[kgzak]

Originally Posted by CalTran

You have one championship in Houston, one in St. Louis. Then at the end of it all you now have 6 world champions, and assumedly 2 CCA teams.

8 world champs if they continue the 4 alliance elims.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by CalTran

You have one championship in Houston, one in St. Louis. Then at the end of it all you now have 6 world champions, and assumedly 2 CCA teams.

8 world champions assuming the alliance structure stays the same.

Edit: wow I got beaten by 2 people...

[Kevin Sevcik]

Champs webpage has better info:
2017 and Beyond

Highlights:
Champs will be on subsequent weekends, Houston then STL, Houston then Detroit. (First Champs, best Champs. (Also, poor Al, Jess, MCs, etc.))
This is the plan from 2017 - 2020.
No details on regional split or anything like that. One presumes FiM teams and others with DCMPs in Week 7 likely won't be heading to Houston Champs in Week 8. Maybe HQ is going to compress some of the regions schedules to get them into the Houston Champs.

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Champs webpage has better info:
2017 and Beyond

Highlights:
Champs will be on subsequent weekends, Houston then STL, Houston then Detroit. (First Champs, best Champs. (Also, poor Al, Jess, MCs, etc.))
This is the plan from 2017 - 2020.
No details on regional split or anything like that. One presumes FiM teams and others with DCMPs in Week 7 likely won't be heading to Houston Champs in Week 8. Maybe HQ is going to compress some of the regions schedules to get them into the Houston Champs.

It's certainly possible, but I think they decide to structure it in such a way that teams slated to go to Houston complete their cycles by Week 6, and Week 7 groups schedule to go to Detroit/St. Louis. I'm sure we'll something about it this summer though.

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Champs webpage has better info:
2017 and Beyond

Highlights:
Champs will be on subsequent weekends, Houston then STL, Houston then Detroit. (First Champs, best Champs. (Also, poor Al, Jess, MCs, etc.))
This is the plan from 2017 - 2020.
No details on regional split or anything like that. One presumes FiM teams and others with DCMPs in Week 7 likely won't be heading to Houston Champs in Week 8. Maybe HQ is going to compress some of the regions schedules to get them into the Houston Champs.

The real conflict is with teams that do VEX...

[JohnBoucher]

How about split dates at the same venue?

Bring half the teams come in Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Have the winners stay. Bring in the other half Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Playoffs on Saturday. One Woodie Flowers and Chairman's winners. One winning alliance.

• Only one setup needed.
• Given a nice venue, volunteers may stay the week. (Disney come to mind)
• No arguing who the real champ is.

Just Saying........

[George A.]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

How about split dates at the same venue?

Bring half the teams come in Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Have the winners stay. Bring in the other half Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Playoffs on Saturday. One Woodie Flowers and Chairman's winners. One winning alliance.

• Only one setup needed.
• Given a nice venue, volunteers may stay the week. (Disney come to mind)
• No arguing who the real champ is.

Just Saying........

I would absolutely be in favor of this, however there are a few logistical issues that might be difficult to overcome.

Airfare for the winning team from the first half would be a nightmare. Teams wouldn't know if they have to hold over their flights until the last day and getting them reworked at the last minute seems all but impossible.

Asking those same students to take more time off of school again at the last minute prolly wouldn't fly with the administration.

Also getting volunteers who would be able to give the full week of time needed would be a daunting task in and of itself.

I do think that maybe something should be done so that the 2 winning alliances meet up at some point to determine an overall champion.

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by George A.

I would absolutely be in favor of this, however there are a few logistical issues that might be difficult to overcome.

Airfare for the winning team from the first half would be a nightmare. Teams wouldn't know if they have to hold over their flights until the last day and getting them reworked at the last minute seems all but impossible.

Asking those same students to take more time off of school again at the last minute prolly wouldn't fly with the administration.

Also getting volunteers who would be able to give the full week of time needed would be a daunting task in and of itself.

I do think that maybe something should be done so that the 2 winning alliances meet up at some point to determine an overall champion.

This seems like something for IRI to help with.....

[evanperryg]

Originally Posted by TDav540

This seems like something for IRI to help with.....

I was just thinking the same thing! The big problem is the travel costs for teams that don't live a couple states away from Indiana. It would be cool, though, to get as many half world champions to indy as possible, and have them play a finals series.

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Does Don Bossi have a CDL?

I envision a fleet of 45,000 segways rolling through the streets of Detroit.

And now to the soapbox...
Personally, I think it cheapens the championship experience to divide it up this way. I love to see all the teams I look up to, and the fact that they're putting half of them at another event next year disappoints me greatly. Put FRC in one venue, and FTC/FLL/jr. FLL in the other venue. Teams have always made it to the championship, even if it's expensive. It's hard for us to find the money, and we're only a 3.5 hour school bus ride to St. Louis. I get it. It might not support the whole "progression of programs" thing to put FTC and FLL in a different city than FRC, but that's already happening in St. Louis. Both groups are isolated now; comparing 2015 to my experience at 2013 and 2014 champs, I saw no difference in the quality of experience. Even without FTC and FLL, FRC champs was great because I got to see all of the great teams. Giving FTC and FLL their own venue would also help them massively. You know what kills the FTC/FLL experience? The fact that next to none of them make it to champs, and yet 1 in 5 FRC teams will be in St. Louis in two weeks. Think about that- statistically, one robot in every match this season would be at champs. Give FTC and FLL their own space so that they can have a gigantic, lively championship like we do.
Stepping off the soapbox...

I really hope that the new championship structure doesn't cheapen the experience that comes with the FIRST World Championship. It's an incredible event, and I'm happy that the freshman on our team will get to experience the last true World Championship before it all changes.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by evanperryg

I love to see all the teams I look up to, and the fact that they're putting half of them at another event next year disappoints me greatly.

It's great that you like seeing and competing with elite and inspiring FRC teams. By splitting Champs into two and expanding the number of teams that attend Champs from 600 to 800, even more teams will get to have this kind of experience. It's true they won't get to attend with all the elite teams in FRC, but it's not like every elite team makes it to Champs every year right now anyways.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

It's great that you like seeing and competing with elite and inspiring FRC teams. By splitting Champs into two and expanding the number of teams that attend Champs from 600 to 800, even more teams will get to have this kind of experience. It's true they won't get to attend with all the elite teams in FRC, but it's not like every elite team makes it to Champs every year right now anyways.

Something from your post made me think; what happens when FRC hits 4000 teams, or 5000 teams? Is FIRST still going to try and pack 20-25% into World Championships? Will we reach a point were it will become infeasible. Or will they add a 3rd event, and then a 4th event? Sounds expensive.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

It's great that you like seeing and competing with elite and inspiring FRC teams. By splitting Champs into two and expanding the number of teams that attend Champs from 600 to 800, even more teams will get to have this kind of experience. It's true they won't get to attend with all the elite teams in FRC, but it's not like every elite team makes it to Champs every year right now anyways.

I dont want to go to a champs where 254 or 1114 or 359 or 67 or 118 isnt. And just because other elite teams are at mine, missing out on perennial championship caliber teams just plain sucks.