Ontario Teams in Jeopardy for 2012/2013?

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

My question to Ontario teams: Currently 31 of last years 78 teams in Ontario have registered for a regional

Originally Posted by Gregor

I think that number speaks for itself.

Don't be so sure. I'm not Mark McLeod, but consider these registration numbers.

As of October 5th of the specific year, number of teams registered for:
GTR East 2011 - 3
GTR East 2012 - 4
GTR East 2013 - 9

GTR West 2011 - 3
GTR West 2012 - 13
GTR West 2013 - 4

Waterloo 2011 - 8
Waterloo 2012 - 7
Waterloo 2013 - 20+ (Event is full, an unknown number of teams are on the waitlist)

Total Ontario Events 2011 - 14
Total Ontario Events 2012 - 24
Total Ontario Events 2013 - 33+

Now there are other factors to consider, such as Ontario teams competing outside Ontario, and non-Ontario teams competing in Ontario, that being said, registration in Ontario is basically on the same pace or a slightly better pace than in past years. Typically, Ontario teams have been slow to register compared to their American peers. Having only 37 of 78 (up since the original post) Ontario teams registered at this point is not actually that alarming.

The numbers seen in other robotics programs are similar. FLL in Ontario actually has more teams than they did last year, while VRC in Ontario is up from 82 to 116 teams from October 5, 2011 to October 5, 2012.

Now, these numbers could tumble dramatically as the season progresses, depending on how this labour situation plays out. But for right now, there's no reason to panic. Things are progressing relatively normally in Ontario.