Opening ceremonies not sent to divisions

[Jimmy Nichols]

The Einstein feed just went down. Showing a splash screen that opening ceremonies will be held on Einstein and that the screen won't be displaying opening ceremonies.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

The Einstein feed just went down. Showing a splash screen that opening ceremonies will be held on Einstein and that the screen won't be displaying opening ceremonies.

Closed and reloaded and back up!

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Mike Martus

What are opinions about the opening ceremonies feed not being sent to divisions. The divisions are full of paying customers that cannot see it.

I think it is a big blunder on the part of FIRST.

Other opinions?

This is how I remember it being done since forever. I understand the logic - they want everyone to watch at Einstein - and the logistics - they are really not set up to feed one field's feed to another (although not a difficult problem to solve) - but this isn't something new.

Originally Posted by FIRST_Parent

Does anyone have a link to the fields that is iPad or iPhone compatible?

I do not believe that any mobile-device-compatible feed is available. Sorry.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

This is how I remember it being done since forever.

I recall last year that they were fed to the other fields screens.

I was sitting on the floor at Galileo for opening. For closing I was sitting along the side of the chairs on the floor and could see the feed on Galileo's screen.

[Michael Hill]

Ya, this was a terrible idea.

[JohnBoucher]

They should of been on every video feed available, webcast, divisions and the pits. I hope it was a misunderstanding and not a deliberate decision.

[Daniel Brim]

Since this thread has been pretty one-sided, I'll offer the devil's advocate position. If you donated thousands/millions of dollars to FIRST, would you want to be giving a speech to a mostly empty crowd?

[connor.worley]

Originally Posted by Daniel Brim

Since this thread has been pretty one-sided, I'll offer the devil's advocate position. If you donated thousands/millions of dollars to FIRST, would you want to be giving a speech to a mostly empty crowd?

They didn't have enough seats to fit everyone within the viewing angle of the Einstein area. They could have at least had audio through the whole stadium.

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by Daniel Brim

Since this thread has been pretty one-sided, I'll offer the devil's advocate position. If you donated thousands/millions of dollars to FIRST, would you want to be giving a speech to a mostly empty crowd?

You would be reaching all those that could not make it to Einstein. The inspectors, the volunteers and the teams needing to be in the pits. If I were donating money, I certainty would expect to be webcast.

[cgmv123]

The audio system on the division fields runs through a box that can bypass the board feed at the division fields and put Einstein on all the audio systems. Video wouldn't be difficult either, since all fields get the same promo feed.

It was definitely possible to put the feed on the division fields (at least on the technical side).

[Tom Line]

It was a horrible decision. I understand in part why they do it. They want the stands to be full for the speakers, etc.

Here's the rub. Last year for the Einstein finals, they opened the upper level because there simply isn't enough seating on just the lower deck.

This year, they cut all the video feeds, and there wasn't nearly enough seating. We considered moving, but by the point we understood what was going on and that there would be no video or sound, the bottom level was filled 180 degrees around Einstein and there were few seats to be had. The second level was not open.

We weren't alone either. Many other teams chose not to move.

[Robotmmm]

We were the first match on Archimedes right after opening ceremonies. Our drive team had to be on the field and we were in the stands to watch the match. They started the match immediately after the ceremonies were done and most people were still over at Einstein. There simply was no time to walk all that way back before they started the match. We would have loved to have been able to watch on the big screen.