All District FIRST?

[BJC]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Doesn't matter to the teams, it still costs $17 000.

Actually, it does matter -- A LOT. The fact that FiM attempts to make the MSC a free event each year is important. As more areas enter the district system and this argument is voiced by more and more people it will eventually happen. Yes it costs $5000 now, but it will probably be free within 5 years.

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Awesome! Those are surprises I love to hear! Hopefully it'll be used in more places in the future, 2 volunteers per team is a good place to start. More key volunteers are what is really needed, and that can't be provided on demand really.



1) Playing matches isn't everything either, especially for the teams that had a rough year with the robot they put on the field.

Playing is not always what inspires everyone, sometimes its the theatrics and production around everything that makes it awe inspiring. The best solution is probably to find a more cost-effective way to bring the theatrics to the district model. I feel overall there was too much of a compromise on cost.

2) If you want to get more funding, the show part really is great for going after money. I've seen prospective sponsors turn into actual sponsors much faster at a Regional than a District. It adds to the awe and gives the whole organization a much more professional face. In particular its helpful for raising funding at the event level, regionals wouldn't cost so much if the events were able to fundraise for themselves better.

I guess the best way to summarize my complaint with the current district model/format/presentation is that it lost too much of the professionalism associated with a regional in order to cut costs of events.

You have a fundamentally different mindset from Fim. FiM is all about getting more playing time for your money and minimizing cost so that the sport can expand. No, not every event is as fancy as a regional, but that's the point. The big show is the championship which is hallmarked by high quality in both event production and robot competitiveness.

In FiM playing matches is everything. For all the hundereds of hours put into each robot many (most) robots went to a single regional this year and competed for a grand total of 1,215 seconds (20.25 minutes). FiM promises twice the playing time allowing that team that had a rough first competiton, instead of being finished with their season, another shot to improve and compete. This difference can not be understated and is a large part of the reason why Michigan teams are so competitive compaired to other areas of the world.

In regards to aquiring funding individual districts don't have their own funding. This is umbrella'd by FiM who I don't believe has ever had trouble aquiring sponsors.

I'm not telling you to agree with me, just asking you to understand the realities of the growing sport and the steps FiM has taken to allow an increasing amount of teams to compete more for less.
Regards, Bryan