Where is gonna be located the 2014-2015 Championship?

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by mklinker

Groups representing possible 2015 sites were in attendance at this years championship. Atlanta and Indianapolis were both represented and others as well. I would not be surprised if the championships were in Indy given the emphasis that Indianapolis has placed upon development of the downtown.

Louisville was being thrown out as a possible 2015 location, one that I haven't heard before among the usual contenders.

[Aiyash]

Cobo Hall and the Joe Louis Arena? Go Detroit!

[nicholsjj]

How about St. Louis for 2015. I know it has had some problems but every venue will have some issues. St. Louis does provide a central location, major airport, and a nice layout for a major First event.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by EricH

Any football stadium project, as I understand it, is contingent on actually getting an NFL team, and that doesn't look like happening any time soon (though if it did, I could see CMP coming to Los Angeles; I remember something about the folks who were wanting to build it wanting to put it next to Staples Center/the Convention Center).

LA would never build a dome. The weather is far too good for that.

[Akash Rastogi]

New Orleans would be really fun...

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by TheMadCADer

Any proposal from Houston wouldn't use the Astrodome, that building is pretty much abandoned. However, right next door there is Reliant Center, larger than America's Center in St. Louis by 200,000 square feet of floor space, and it is also right next door to an NFL stadium with a retractable roof. It's a bit more walking than St. Louis (and based on the shape of the convention center, some divisions would walk a bit further), but probably pretty close to what we had in Atlanta.

There's also Reliant Arena just across the parking lot, which couldn't handle FRC but could support some FLL/FTC. However, most people would like to keep all the levels together, so everyone can easily see it all at once.

I think open air Championships in a stadium with a retractable roof would be amazing. Unless it is raining of course.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by marandola316

I think open air Championships in a stadium with a retractable roof would be amazing. Unless it is raining of course.

The open air stadium would be very difficult since a large amount of lighting, curtains, and other things are rigged to the ceiling of the EJD as it is right now.

I do know Indianapolis' Convention Center has multiple hotels connected to the convention center, but a big issue will arise in the airport not having any independent mass transit to the downtown area like St. Louis or Atlanta.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by LucasM

According to Jim Beck at the Central Valley Regional, FIRST was considering holding it at the Anaheim Convention Center.

According to Wikipedia, its arena only holds 9,100 people. Are you sure he wasn't talking about a regional, or the VRC championships which are already held there?

[MooreteP]

My personal choices:

1) Atlanta: Familiarity, easy to get a direct flight, great public transportation, The Finale event is outside and right next to the venue (Centennial Park), many hotels within walking distance and less expensive ones located on the train lines (MARTA), Atlanta Braves Game, Aquarium, High Museum.

The only question is the fate of the Georgia Dome with their plans for a new retractable roof stadium for the Falcons (IMHO, a big mistake).

2) Indianapolis: I'm a Hoosier (Purdue 1984). A great sports capital, Many hotels attached to the venue, geographically more central. The relative density of teams are within a one-day drive is very high.

The downsides are the connecting flights and the public transportation option.

3) Minneapolis: Lived there for three years in the late 80's. Good public transportation from the airport. Similar to St. Louis for hotel accommodations. The skywalk system is awesome. Much to do. Great arts. The Twin City Twins at Target Field (although they bias away from the early spring games).
FIRST in Minnesota has shown tremendous growth.

The negatives would be connecting flights and the weather.

WILDCARDS:

Detroit: FiM and oh so very close to Canada.

San Diego, LA, Orlando: Why not return to the days of EPCOT and hold it outside. Spend the money you'll save on the dome by paying for awesome canopies over the field in the event it rains.
Six Divisions with 72 teams. (another thread)
Far from the East coast for LA and SD, and from the West for Orlando.
Maybe its time to shift the center of gravity West for a few years. People on the East Coast tend to not be aware of the time zones as people on the West Coast).

Denver: Cool city, but the transport lacks.

Dallas, San Antonio: Good airfares to Dallas, poor logistics. 2018 maybe. Good Center of Gravity.

Toronto: Perfect. Their cities are as well designed as their Robots.
Passports.

[Koko Ed]

There is no way FIRST will use a hockey or basketball arena for the championships when there is a season (especially the playoffs) going on. Too much revenue lost.
Any city that has a domed football stadium has the inside track as far as I can see so places like Atlanta, Detroit,, Phoenix, New Orleans Dallas, San Antonio, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Houston make the most sense.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I do know Indianapolis' Convention Center has multiple hotels connected to the convention center, but a big issue will arise in the airport not having any independent mass transit to the downtown area like St. Louis or Atlanta.

Indianapolis host the annual FFA convention which makes the championship look small. We know how to get people downtown.

[goldenglove002]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

1) Atlanta: Familiarity, easy to get a direct flight, great public transportation, The Finale event is outside and right next to the venue (Centennial Park), many hotels within walking distance and less expensive ones located on the train lines (MARTA), Atlanta Braves Game, Aquarium, High Museum.

The only question is the fate of the Georgia Dome with their plans for a new retractable roof stadium for the Falcons (IMHO, a big mistake).

The Georgia Dome is currently scheduled to be demolished following the 2016-17 football season. That means the championship would only be held in Atlanta for 2015,16 and maybe 17 depending on the exact date of demolition. Unless the championship is held entirely within the GWCC (which is possible), that would probably be the end of Atlanta being in the discussion. The new stadium is expected to land a block south of where the Georgia Dome currently sits, possible still connected to the GWCC but further away.

[kwotremb]

Although it would be great to have Championships in Detroit (hey I live there), I just do not see a good area to hold it.

Cobo/Joe would have space for pits, but how about the fields? The Joe itself might hold 2 fields, 4 might be pushing it, but no way to have it all going on. Plus as stated above Hockey is going on so would have to coordinate around that.

Ford Field has the dome and plenty of room for seats and fields, but how about the pits? There is nothing close that would be able to hold them, unless they fit them and the fields inside of the dome. Maybe there is some parking lot they can make some temporary area for pits.

Silverdome is opened back up, but again issue with pits.

The Palace probably to small for fields and no room for pits.

[kwotremb]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

The open air stadium would be very difficult since a large amount of lighting, curtains, and other things are rigged to the ceiling of the EJD as it is right now.

I was hoping especially with how the weather was the one year it was in Houston that they would open up the roof there. After seeing all the wires hanging from the roof, that was not going to happen. Maybe if it was set up right and the right kind of retractable roof maybe, but odds are low.

[pntbll1313]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

My personal choices:

3) Minneapolis: Lived there for three years in the late 80's. Good public transportation from the airport. Similar to St. Louis for hotel accommodations. The skywalk system is awesome. Much to do. Great arts. The Twin City Twins at Target Field (although they bias away from the early spring games).
FIRST in Minnesota has shown tremendous growth.

The negatives would be connecting flights and the weather.

MN would be a bad choice at the moment. Target Field is outdoors and for those that don't know it snowed here yesterday. I wouldn't want my robot to be covered with snow... They are in the process of tearing down and building a new stadium where the Metrodome is. I think that will be done 2016 so maybe we'll be back in the discussion after that.