Bills Blog - You're going to want to look closely at the diagram

[cziggy343]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

In Atlanta they reserved space for teams on Einstein to sit and cheer near the field. Will they have to do the same thing for Curie and Newton and give priority seating to the 24 teams selected for eliminations, the 8 alternates, and invite everyone else to go get a good seat in the Dome for the big show? When the pits are cleared for the elimination rounds I do not see how we will all fit.

I like the idea a lot. I do not know how hard this would be to implement though... But I think that it's a good start to helping solve the seating issue.

[DarrinMunter]

Any idea on the pit size?
What were they in Atlanta?
Is it safe to say there going to be the standarded 10 by 10.
Just tring to figure pit layout, its hard to tell from the map Bill put up.

Thanks,

[JesseK]

Robot coming through
Excuse me robot coming through
OMG ROBOT COMING THRU!!1!!!

So much for quieter pits.

I'm secretly hoping all of our anxieties are overblown...

[rmhooks573]

i feel like, there really is not a need to panic right now. there is so much "guesstimation" about how the whole thing will come together with not 100$ of the info. with FIRST there are always some kind of things to leave you guessing. so i think i may just sit back until 1 week from now so when i see it, my eyes will fall out from taking it all in at once

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by rmhooks573

so i think i may just sit back until 1 week from now so when i see it, my eyes will fall out from taking it all in at once

Duct tape could help with that. (joke)

Jane

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by rsisk

<edit>Just ignore if you already read the Tom Line post above. He beat me to it, although we use different numbers. Mine came from ehow </edit>

Doing some rough estimates on bleacher size

16 rows x 115 ft x 12 ft/in / 24 in/person = 920 people/bleacher x 2 bleachers
1840 people / 88 teams = 20.9 people per team at max capacity.

some assumptions
2 ft per row, could be fewer rows
24 in/person space, std space is 16 in, some bleachers use the 24 in space
100% capacity probably ain't happening, so using the larger in/person size should compensate.

So, 20 people per team in the bleachers seems reasonable, especially considering some teams will not have as many people as they would at a local regional.

Certainly not the ideal that having all the fields in the dome would bring, but certainly workable.

This isn't counting FLL and FTC participants who may wish to view the FRC festivities, as well as people who come to the event that aren't affiliated with a particular team. This situation would be further exacerbated by non-affiliated spectators who may or may not be joined by his pregnant wife, toddler, and perhaps a stroller (which I realize would be this hypothetical spectator's cross to bear, but consideration would be appreciated).

Of course, this event will be populated and attended by thousands of bright, clever, courteous individuals who can overcome obstacles and make this event successful on all levels.

[Dancin103]

Looking at this map again reminds me of how small and crammed the pits were in Philly when it was at Drexel.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

Looking at this map again reminds me of how small and crammed the pits were in Philly when it was at Drexel.

At least Drexel had enough seating for all of the teams....

[Carol]

I wonder if the secrecy about the concert on Friday with the un-named but we all know who they probably are group is due to the problem of keeping the general population from overwhelming the event. I'm sure they want to keep the concert pretty much limited to FIRST participants and friends, but how will they limit it? If they had announced several weeks ago that the un-named but we all know who they probably are group is going to be in town, word would have spread and fans would be camped out now to try and get seats.

I agree with several of the previous posters that we all need to stop the ever increasing speculating, whining, complaining, guessing, kvetching, griping, fussing, moaning, and start enjoying the experience. FIRST isn't there to try and ruin your trip, but is working very hard with a limited staff and a new venue to put on a very large and complicated event. Go and spread the joy and enthusiasm that we all should have to everyone on your team.

[robobandmom]

Maybe they will surprise us with a viewing area in the dome for the pit fields. That would be nice, then there would be room for all the students and spectators for the 176 teams that will have their divison's eliminations in the pits.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

The bleachers they have shown are about the same size as 2/3rds of the bleachers brought in for the CT Regional. That event has 60 teams, and those bleachers were jam packed. Fitting 28 more teams in less space is not going to be pleasant.

CT was such a great regional when i went (2008) i wish we could go again, we were the only Canadian team at the regional.... and the stands were jam packed that year too!

[Nawaid Ladak]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

Looking at this map again reminds me of how small and crammed the pits were in Philly when it was at Drexel.

I went to philly one year, it wasn't THAT bad. St. Louis will be far worse.

[Warren Boudreau]

There have been some good points made in this thread, so far.

Firstly, teams watching from the bleachers. Please be respectful of those around you. More so now than in the past. It will be very close quarters and tempers might get a bit frayed. Please feel free to stand and cheer your team during introductions but then sit down and let everyone enjoy how magnificent your robot is.

Secondly, traffic is going to be tight around the pit fields. Please be patient, cautious and courteous.

Now for my two cents.

It is what it is. Griping won't help. Plan ahead, go with the flow, and enjoy as much of the experience as you can. You can offer constructive feedback afterwards.

Finally, remember that none of this is the fault of any of the volunteers that are going to be asking you to do some things that you might not want to do. Be nice to them. They are trying hard to keep things running smoothly.

[fhobart]

This is oddly familiar with the setup at the Boilermaker Regional, which is held in the Purdue Armory. It is a smaller venue than most with bleacher seating on both sides. The seats fill up quickly and finding a spot is difficult. The concern is that the field of teams at Purdue is 40.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by fhobart

This is oddly familiar with the setup at the Boilermaker Regional, which is held in the Purdue Armory.

That was my first thought when I started considering how cramped intimate the non-Dome field experience might be. But notice how much larger the St. Louis setup is, and especially how much more room there is between the field and the bleachers.