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[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by treffk

Theoretically in my mind, with it being in St. Louis is it more central for everyone in the US which makes it cheaper and easier to travel to for some teams as they do not have to fly from one coast to another. Although this can make it more expense for those who are on the East Coast or outside the US.

Out of curiosity, I just took a look too. I always thought of St. Louis is being more 'central'. While it's more central than Atlanta, it's still a 30 hour drive from California. That makes champs out of reach for anyone who can't fly from the west coast.

Denver is actually about in the middle. Funny, I always thought it was further west, but it isn't. It's 18 hours from San-Fran to Denver, and 18 hours from Denver to Detroit. That's a drive, but it's possible to pull off. Plane tickets to Vega are cheap... there is always that option

[1975Flyers]

Teams can't make it to Champs. because of legimate high costs, yet some teams can go cross country for regionals. Money still talks!

[mrmummert]

How far in hours is it from Maine to Denver? I think St. Louis is ok...keep in mind that there are probably more First teams east of St. Louis than west of it.
The harder you make it for more teams to attend CMP the less that will attend.
I have no idea how teams like 359 are able to travel so much. They came here to Virginia one year and thats about as far east (from Hawaii) as you can get without going to Long Island or Israel.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by mrmummert

How far in hours is it from Maine to Denver? I think St. Louis is ok...keep in mind that there are probably more First teams east of St. Louis than west of it.
The harder you make it for more teams to attend CMP the less that will attend.
I have no idea how teams like 359 are able to travel so much. They came here to Virginia one year and thats about as far east (from Hawaii) as you can get without going to Long Island or Israel.

I once heard a story that 359 is one of the best funded teams in all of FIRST. It seems like it would have be close to truth, based on their travel requirements!

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by mrmummert

How far in hours is it from Maine to Denver? I think St. Louis is ok...keep in mind that there are probably more First teams east of St. Louis than west of it.
The harder you make it for more teams to attend CMP the less that will attend.
I have no idea how teams like 359 are able to travel so much. They came here to Virginia one year and thats about as far east (from Hawaii) as you can get without going to Long Island or Israel.

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I once heard a story that 359 is one of the best funded teams in all of FIRST. It seems like it would have be close to truth, based on their travel requirements!

I have talked with them about it and their big secret is that they fundraise 365 days a year. They work very hard to be able to travel and I'm glad they do.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by IndySam

I have talked with them about it and their big secret is that they fundraise 365 days a year. They work very hard to be able to travel and I'm glad they do.

Thanks for the kind words.

The pressure to run a team, raise money, worry about coaching/strategizing at tournaments, and do my crazy day job....takes a very understanding wife and family.
With also traveling for VEX and IRI as well, imagine taking a team of 20+ members to Hawaii 4-5 times a year. Winning the CMP CA allowed our team to plan way ahead for St. Louis and save money on airfare buying it early.

The learning experiences and the opportunities to travel to different places in both Asia and the US mainland has been priceless. This is the main reason our team travels to different regionals each year.
This year our team was amazed to see snow and snowboard in Utah and we absolutely loved it!

[MrJohnston]

We qualified for nationals for the first time ever as a team - so we very excited to be going. However, the bill is going to be about $60,000 (30 kids plus mentors/chaperones). Group airline tickets run about $1,000 per person from SEattle, so we have booked six separate travel group and were able to average about $500/ticket to save money.

Though St. Louis is central, very few airlines use it as a hub and, therefore, we have to cut through other cities en route. Were the competition in Denver, Dallas, Chicago or Atlanta, we'd likely do much better financially.

How are we affording it? We've been preparing for two years, have completely drained our account, and sent out a "please help" letter to all our sponsors. Families are also chipping in a good chunk of change.

[MrTechCenter]

Originally Posted by MrJohnston

We qualified for nationals for the first time ever as a team - so we very excited to be going. However, the bill is going to be about $60,000 (30 kids plus mentors/chaperones). Group airline tickets run about $1,000 per person from SEattle, so we have booked six separate travel group and were able to average about $500/ticket to save money.

Though St. Louis is central, very few airlines use it as a hub and, therefore, we have to cut through other cities en route. Were the competition in Denver, Dallas, Chicago or Atlanta, we'd likely do much better financially.

How are we affording it? We've been preparing for two years, have completely drained our account, and sent out a "please help" letter to all our sponsors. Families are also chipping in a good chunk of change.

Very true. Atlanta is Delta's biggest hub as well as a major hub for Southwest now that they've acquired AirTran. St. Louis has very little options. We have to make two stops to get there, meaning that even if we leave Sacramento at 6am we don't get to St. Louis until 4:15pm. Oh how I wish JetBlue flew to St. Louis...

[Jibri Wright]

Either that or some teams can pitch together and make a flying robot

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

Out of curiosity, I just took a look too. I always thought of St. Louis is being more 'central'. While it's more central than Atlanta, it's still a 30 hour drive from California. That makes champs out of reach for anyone who can't fly from the west coast.

Denver is actually about in the middle. Funny, I always thought it was further west, but it isn't. It's 18 hours from San-Fran to Denver, and 18 hours from Denver to Detroit. That's a drive, but it's possible to pull off. Plane tickets to Vega are cheap... there is always that option

St. Louis, however, is quite close to the mean center of the US Population. Though, I don't think FIRST teams are really representative of the US population. Someone should redo this calculation with the locations of FIRST teams.

[kmusa]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

St. Louis, however, is quite close to the mean center of the US Population. Though, I don't think FIRST teams are really representative of the US population. Someone should redo this calculation with the locations of FIRST teams.

Interesting how close both Denver and St. Louis are to Lebanon, Kansas.